


OtherSelf Online

by Aurya



Category: Black★Rock Shooter, Sword Art Online
Genre: BRS characters in SAO-style AU, BRSAO, Character names from multiple different BRS series, Gen, I'll see myself out, This star is gonna be the death of me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-08 13:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 39
Words: 95,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12865938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurya/pseuds/Aurya
Summary: Mato Kuroi - cheerful, outgoing, and compassionate. The advent of full-dive technology has allowed her to make friends she never would have had the chance to meet.Yuu Koutari - once poisoned, twice immune. A popular bully's target, she has learned to stop reacting, and vents the resulting frustrations in digital worlds.Kagari Izuriha - sadistic and psychosomatic. Convincing herself she cannot walk has turned friends into caretakers and virtual reality into threatening possibilty.Yomi Takanashi - quiet, withdrawn, and regretful. After past mistakes, she refuses to enjoy herself until she is certain her actions won't bring anyone physical harm.Saya Irino - empathetic and uplifting. A counselor at a large school, she has firsthand experience with stress and hurt caused by interactions with anonymity.By what strange trick of fate do their paths come to cross?





	1. Five Lights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have had B★RS on my mind way too much. And I've considered almost every fandom I'm a part of for a SAO fic. Take both anime into consideration and it's a match made in the Sacred Realm.
> 
> SAO information: this fic takes place in an irregulars' sort of world wherein the NervGear has enjoyed popularity for, what, a couple years without any death games.
> 
> B★RS information: Here's the important bits about which continuities you want to keep in mind if you're familiar with them.  
> -I have watched and loved the B★RS OVA and anime. Main character elements are taken from the anime series.  
> -I have read B★RS Innocent Soul. Some secondary characters will be representative of characters from the manga.  
> -I have not played B★RS The Game. (I currently -cannot- play B★RS The Game, the Canadian PS Store doesn't have it and I'm hesitant to go the false account route). Any names I take from the game are -only- names, taken because I happen to need them.

"Link start!"

The NervGear whirred until that command was spoke, and the VRMMORPG began to load. Light surged towards her, a stream of every colour on the spectrum visible to the human eye racing past her in an instant, and a whistle passing through six octaves rang in her ears. As her body went still, her mind was provoked; for a moment she could have sworn she felt steel beneath her fingers, that spice burned upon her tongue, and the scent of smoke filled her nostrils.

 **Touch - OK  
** **Sight - OK**

 **Hearing - OK**  
**Taste - OK**  
**Smell - OK**

* * *

**Login_::**  
account:  
[****]  
password:  
[*********]

She was standing in a city park; the buildings were all dark steel, lit with unpleasant neon, and dark clouds stopped the sun from brightening the view. The grass was singed beneath her feet, and a few trees scattered about were withered and twisted; a concrete bench nearby stood out in the environment, its bright surface not yet covered by enough darkness to let it blend in. It must have been a new addition; it most certainly wasn't there when she had left.

"Hey, Rock!"

The call from behind her caused the black-haired girl to turn round, finding a quartet of familiar players in black clothes approaching. "You weren't waiting for me, were you?" she asked.

"You're just logging in now?" a redheaded boy accused. "What took you so long?"

Rock sighed, swiping her right hand down and causing a menu to appear before her. "Last time I get dinner delivered," she admitted, tapping through a few screens. "He took ages to get here."

She tapped a confirmation, causing panels to appear before her friends; each of them quickly hit 'confirm', and several names and HP bars manifested below her own in the top-left corner of her vision. "Let's get going," a brunette girl insisted. "If we're fast, we can still catch the buggers before they get up to speed."

This world was _Inferno_ , a game with a focus on firearms and a LOT of different ways to use them. Mato Kuroi - user ID 'Rock' - was the leader of a quickly-growing guild known as the Black Shooters, known for taking on challenges well beyond anything a player should be trying at their levels... and, through a combination of tactics and skill and Rock's perpetually bright mood,  _winning_.

A few quick equipment checks; then Rock and her party made their way out of the city.

* * *

**Login_::**  
account:  
[***]  
password  
[********]

She stood atop a looming cliff, towering over a bridge that spanned a massive lake. This place was infamous as a mass level-grinding spot; one side of the bridge hosted a horde of monsters that could eat the highest-level players alive in an open combat zone. Approaching from across the bridge, however, would give players a chokepoint... if they could get through the garrison. A guild that called themselves the Valkyrian Legion had dominated the area for months, and with the levels they had achieved, nobody in their right mind wanted to get anywhere near them.

Which explained why several people thought that she was  **not** in her right mind.

A chat notification appeared before her, and she tapped it to open the log.  _How are things looking?_

 _They're setting up for another grind_ , she typed out _. You've got ten minutes to send me the goods, tops._

Soon enough, she had a delivery from someone on her friends list - a large sum of money and a few rare drops. She quickly opened her equipment menu, chceking the equipped/equippable comparisons. One weapon which was rather high-end, but of a type she did not have the proficiency to make use of, and a few armour pieces inferior to her current gear, but only just. Still, she could always sell them to NPCs or some players with deep pockets.

 _Delivery received_ , she sent back through the chat _. Pleasure doing business._

She quickly closed the chat and tapped to her inventory, drawing out a small item. The Legion had started to advance; with the aggro range of the monster horde, the two teams were both closing towards the center of the bridge. Three steps back; then she charged forward, leaping from the cliff. Between her speed stat and her equipment's effects, the jump sent her soaring towards the point where the two armies were about to meet... give or take a few paces closer to the legion.

The entire army skidded to a halt as she slammed into the bridge; the impact knocked up dust around her, making it easy to miss the Immortal Object warning that appeared beneath her fist. A few good points of HP knocked off her bar, but quickly regenerated as she got to her feet, turning towards the confused murmurings of the Legion.

"The luminous colour shines on the dark..."

A whispered word activated her item, which shattered in her hands, and a defensive glow lit up around her as a player at the head of the Legion screamed; "Shit! It's  _Yew!_ "

This world was _Shadow Hunter_ , a game where everything that moved was an enemy - unless it was in your party or your guild. And Yuu Koutari - user ID 'Yew' - did not do guilds _or_ parties. She was in this game for the fight, and although she wasn't opposed to taking a paid job every now and then, nobody even considered approaching her outside of a safe zone.

The Valkyrian Legion began to retreat - but Yew charged after them, and a well-aimed blow was enough to knock the first victim's HP into the red zone.

* * *

**Login_::**  
account:  
[****]  
password:  
[*******]

She stood in a town square; a sunset was descending on it, painting everything in beautiful tones, and anyone would swear the fountain in the center was flowing with liquid gold. So many people were gathered about that she couldn't tell who was a player and who was an NPC; the mess of player cursors was too thick to tell where one ended and another began, let alone to who exactly they were pointing.

As she started out of the square, someone called from behind her; "Dead, wait up!" A glance over her shoulder revealed a familiar silver-haired player approaching, and though she didn't stop walking, she kept her eye on him until he was at her side. "You're on early."

"I didn't have much to do today," Dead insisted.

"We were gonna hit up that dungeon today," the silver admitted. "You wanna come with?"

"Maybe," Dead admitted. "Did I...?" She opened her menu and tapped through to her inventory screen, scanning the list. "I think I can join you," she admitted. "Just give me ten minutes to tweak-"

Her companion groaned. "You and your  _tweaks_ ," he observed. "I've seen tabletop munchkins who do less min-maxing."

Dead sighed. "Ten minutes, tops. I swear."

"Fine." He started off. "We're meeting at the south gate. If you're not there in fifteen, we're leaving you behind!"

This world was _Purgatory_ , a game with a combat engine designed to give even the most detached player an adrenaline rush. But Yomi Takanashi - user ID 'Dead' - had an acknowledged bad habit of spending more time customizing her equipment than making good use of it. It wasn't even always for the greatest combat effectiveness, either; sometimes she just wanted an ensemble of armour that  _looked_ good together, and a weapon that didn't clash with it.

That being said, intending to join a dungeon crawl, Dead quickly equipped herself with the best offensive she had.

* * *

**Login_::**  
account:  
[****]  
password:  
[******]

She stood on a grassy hill, overlooking a towering citadel. Several NPCs stood before her, all in battle wear - some brandished claymores, others bore halberds; some wore bows and quivers, others carried shields and broadswords. With a quick scan of their numbers, she turned to the fortress; a few taps and swipes on the menu sent a message to a player within, and a firework explosion burst above her.

Soon enough, she had her response; a notification appeared before her, and by the time she had closed the message, the gates of the castle had opened, and figures began to pour out. With a smirk, she raised her arm, waving to them as she called.

"Go away!"

The horde continued to march towards her.

"Go away!"

Player cursors began to manifest in her vision as they got close enough to register.

"Go away!"

Soon enough, it became apparent that there were no NPCs in the approaching group.

"Go away!"

The soldiers behind her began to ready their weapons.

"Go away!"

One player got ear enough that he raised his blade with intention to bring it down on her. Her other hand shot over her shoulder, seizing the handle of a sword, and before the player could react she brought it forward, slashing across his torso. His HP bar was barely there before it turned from green to yellow, to red, and then was empty; the player wore an expression of terror as he shattered, and the NPCs behind her started to charge forward.

This world was _War of the Gods_ , a game that took player versus player to unparalleled heights. Seventeen 'kingdoms' were scattered throughout the world (with an eighteenth region that served as a neutral zone for newly-created or freshly-respawned players), and each kingdom hosted a titanic castle - the base of operations for a single player. Players could ally themselves with the ruler of a kingdom, serving in their army, or they could try and eliminate the player in order to claim their castle. And the rulers had a single objective - take out opposing rulers, claim control of the seventeen kingdoms, and have their name immortalized in the Infinite Graveyard, whereupon the castles would be taken over by NPCs and be up for grabs.

Kagari Izuriha - user ID 'Mary' - was infamous as a ruler who allied herself with no players. Her entire army formed from NPC soldiers; each castle could spawn a certain number, and most players dismissed them as cannon fodder. Mary, however, had managed to turn her NPC soldiers into a massacre force, and was currently in control of seven of the seventeen kingdoms.

And as she advanced on the player army, she was on her way to an eighth.

* * *

**Login_::**  
account:  
[****]  
password:  
[**********]

She stood at the entrance to a large cave, whose maw was covered in a dark mist. That cave rested in a towering forest, but save for the cavern's entrance it was rather well-lit, even in the sunset. Tiny birds were flying about through the trees, but a quick glance revealed that they were more props than wildlife - just something to provide ambience, rather than something that could be taken out for a drop.

A flash of light nearby drew her attention as someone else appeared; a blue-haired player whose expression quickly went from annoyed to surprised. "Oh, Gold! You're early."

Gold shook her head. "I just got here. Something happen?"

"Stupid traffic," the player admitted. "On the bright side, I got some new intel about the dungeon."

"Save it for the others. I don't want to have to hear it twice."

This world was _Paradise_ , a game that was designed for exploration. Dungeons were scattered all across the world, taking all sorts of forms - winding labyrinths, constant climbs, multilayered coliseums - and every dungeon had something worth someone's time. The idea of buying something from an NPC or getting a drop from a monster had been cast aside; in this world, everything that didn't come to a newly-created player was a reward for a dungeon search.

Saya Irino - user ID 'Gold' - was part of a small party with big ambitions - seven members wanting to clear every dungeon the game had to offer. Most dungeons were ranked according to their difficulty (although a small dungeon near the initial spawn point, which served as a tutorial, was unlabelled and unrepeatable); of the ten difficulty levels, the party was on the fourth.

More of the party members logged in around them, and Gold started equipping for the dungeon dive.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> None of these VRMMORPGs listed here are relevant; I just needed to establish everyone's preferences. I realize I kind of rambled about War of the Gods, but if you recognize the description your might figure out why.


	2. Change in the Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why, but Legend of Zelda has got me in a B★RS mood. That doesn't make a whole deal of sense.

"Hey, Yuu! Wait up!"

At the sound of her name, Yuu's pace halted with a quick turn. A small smile rose on her face when she saw Mato approaching. "Morning," she greeted.

Once Mato had caught up, the two continued side-by-side on their way to school. "How was _Inferno_ yesterday?" Yuu inquired.

"Hiro kept bugging me in the middle of our ambush," Mato groaned. "You'd think he'd have learned by now not to bug somebody wearing a NervGear."

"I meant your mob hunt," Yuu argued. "Any PK guilds come after you?"

"No guilds, nope," Mato explained. "One solo player showed up, but Maranae took him down from like 4000 meters."

Yuu glanced at her. "Doesn't Maranae use a handgun?"

Mato chuckled, grinning. "I read something interesting on the _Shadow Hunter_ forums last night," she added, changing the subject. "Apparently the Valkyrian Legion gave up their base on the Black Lake."

"Why do you still read those forums?" Yuu reprimanded. "You haven't played _Shadow Hunter_ since the week of launch."

"Just because I don't play it doesn't mean it's not fun to hear about it," Mato argued. "Sounds like someone dropped in on one of their grind raids. Somebody said they should've known better than to get involved with someone who can hit the bridge like a meteor and not even lose any HP."

"I lost HP, it just reg-"

Mato giggled as Yuu slammed her hands to her mouth - too late. "Was that just a joyride," she asked, "or did someone hire you?"

"It was a job," Yuu admitted, lowering her hands. "Got some decent Scol out of it. Armour kind of sucked, but I'd love to know where he got the blade."

"Just because it's not as good as what you've got already, doesn't mean it sucks," Mato reprimanded.

"Point."

When they arrived at school, they were surprised to find a familiar face pacing at the entrance. "Kohacchi?"

Arata Kohata - 'Kohacchi' to her friends - turned towards them. "Mato, Yuu," she greeted. "Practice is cancelled today."

"What!?" As the leader of the basketball club, Arata wasn't usually one to call off practice; she had at one point ignored the lingering smell of a prankster's stink bomb and expected the rest of the team to do the same. "What happened?"

"The fire showers in the gym are busted," she explained. "They're not expected to be fixed until Friday."

"Wonderful," Mato muttered. "I was looking forward to today."

Arata sighed. "And that makes everybody."

Yuu glanced around. "So, who are you waiting for?"

"What do you mean 'who'?" Arata accused.

"You don't pace around like that when you're just trying to catch the club," Yuu accused. Then, with a smirk, "Is this about  _Kaede_  again?"

Red rippled across Arata's cheeks at the mention; Kaede was a friend she'd met in a VRMMO, and from the day she mentioned him Yuu and Mato had never let her live it down. "Sh-shut up."

Mato giggled. "How many times has he stood you up, now? You don't even know if he's a  **he**!"

"You can't change genders in a NervGear!" Arata defended.

"You can," Mato corrected. "Most games prevent it because it's not good for long dives, but _Pacifist Nation_  expects you to leave and wait every so often, so they let it slide."

Arata's expression told her she hadn't known that. "I-I haven't just met him in  _Pacifist Nation_ ," she continued. "We met up in _Final_ _Colosseum_  and  _Fort-Lune_..." Mato extended two fingers, and then a third. " _Hanafuda House..._ " Four. " _Bazillion_ _..._ " Five. " _Shadow Hunter_!"

Mato raised her other hand as though to count six... and then turned to Yuu with an inquisitive look. She hadn't done much avatar customization in  _Shadow Hunter_ , and her look-ups about avatar gender settings had been limited to games she hadn't played.

Yuu shrugged. "They don't," she admitted, "but the character customization means it wouldn't be hard to look like a guy. Flat chest, short hair... they don't let you change the face settings except for your eyebrow colours, but you can fix that in the real world and then just reset your NervGear's scan. Depending on how her voice sounds-"

"He doesn't sound feminine at all!" Arata insisted. "I don't think it's  _possible_  for a girl to sound that masculine without doing a  **fake bass like some brutish** " - here she lowered her voice to an exaggerated baritone so deep they could barely make out her words - "and you could tell if someone did that right away!"

"Still," Mato insisted, "you can't judge someone by what they're like online." Aiming a finger at Arata's chest; "I mean-"

Basketball players can develop some strong arms - as Mato's fingers were quickly able to attest to.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, a company responsible for several of the games those three friends enjoyed was hard at work. The Shattered Star corporation - producers of  _Inferno_ , _Shadow Hunter_ ,  _Purgatory_ ,  _War of the Gods_ , _Paradise_ , and  _Pacifist Nation_  - was working on their most ambitious title yet. The main developer - a woman by the name of Jonzen Black - removed her NervGear to find a besuited man standing at her side.

"Well?" he inquired.

"That's the last of the bugs wiped out," Black replied, setting the device down and getting to her feet. "And the performance is going better than I expected. I think it's time we move on to a beta test. We need some player input."

The man, Viola Grey, smirked. "Might I make a few suggestions?"

* * *

Later that day, Yomi arrived at home with a bag full of homework. Her mother was out for the afternoon, with a note saying she'd be home in time for dinner; she gradually made her way upstairs, setting the bag down and approaching a table nearby - with a paper cup sitting atop it, a string connecting it through a hole in the wall to the house next door.

She picked up the cup and raised it to her mouth. "I'm home," she announced.

After a short moment, Kagari's voice came from the other end. "How was your day?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Yomi replied.

"I'm coming to  _Purgatory_ today," Kagari informed her. "You're gonna be there, right?"

"Yes," Yomi confirmed.

"Meet me in the plaza. I'll be waiting for you."

Yomi nodded, knowing she knew no confirmation, and set the cup down; then she stepped over to her bed, picked up her NervGear, and set it over her head.

* * *

At much the same time, Saya arrived at her own home after a relatively pleasant day. Being a school counselor had its trials and tribulations, but today had been rather calm for the student body, putting her in a very good mood for some dungeon-crawling in _Paradise_. As she readied herself a cup of coffee, her phone went off - an email notification - and with a confused hum, she drew it out.

 _jburaku@shatteredstar.com  
_ _Seeking Beta Tester_

"What's this, now?" Having more than once skimmed past something important because she was reading an email on her phone, she quickly prepared her drink and opened up her laptop to check the message.

 _User: Gold  
_ _Of game: Paradise_

 _You have been selected to participate in a beta test for an upcoming VRMMORPG by the Shattered Star corporation.  
__This is not a random selection, nor have you been chosen for your in-game accomplishments. The selection has been due to specialized requirements that we believe you can meet._  
_Please reply to this email or call the number below, so that we may schedule a meeting within Paradise to discuss._

_Jonzen Black, concept developer for Shattered Star  
User: White_

"White...?" Saya felt a strange familiarity form the user ID, but she couldn't quite place it. Deciding she'd prefer to hear a voice in person, she quickly picked up her phone and dialed the number provided.

It didn't take long for the other end to pick up.  _"Shattered Star offices, Black speaking."_

Saya reclined in her seat. "Miss Black? My name is Saya Irino..."

_"User ID, Gold? From Paradise?"_

The accusation caught her off-guard. "How do you know that?"

 _"You're the only beta tester I've sent the email to so far,"_ Black replied on the other end.  _"I apologize for my insistence, but please refrain from refusing or agreeing to the beta test until we can meet in-game. This way I can make sure I'm speaking to the person I intend to."_ Saya could make out some tapping from the other end. _"Do you have a preferred timeframe?"_

"I can meet any day after 5 PM," Saya explained. "I'm open for the rest of today."

 _"Shall I see you in fourty-five minutes outside the Angel's Maw?"_ Black offered.

The Angel's Maw was the tutorial dungeon in  _Paradise_ , and Saya had logged out from nearby. "I should be able to manage that, yes."

_"Great. See you then."_

Black hung up on the other end, and Saya lowered her phone with a curious gaze. "A beta test, huh...?" Curious, she quickly finished her coffee; then she made her way to her bedroom, picking up her NervGear and lying upon the bed.

"Link start."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I made B★RS references in my Vocaloid fic, so too will I be making Vocaloid references in my B★RS fic. Anyone who can figure out where the name 'Jonzen Black' came from will receive my utmost congratulation.


	3. Another World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing that always gets me in the B★RS OVA. Mato sees this girl and wants to be friends with her. So she comes up to her in the hallway, completely out of nowhere... and says "You're really tall." How the hell does THAT start a friendship right off when her friendly approach in the anime series doesn't?
> 
> (answer: Kagari has her on a frickin' leash)

"You've been invited to a beta test?"

Mato nodded in response to her mother's question; after the email she'd received last night and the subsequent drop in at _Inferno_ , it had been far too late for her to bring it up before breakfast. "Yeah, sounds like it's a really big-scale project. They're looking for a small group to help them test out some of the new concepts."

Her mother smirked. "Shattered Star... weren't they involved with the NervGear in its creation phases?"

"Mom, that's an  _old_ rumor," Mato reprimanded. "They didn't help make the thing. They just had games out for it at launch, so they were getting specs ahead of time."

"Right, right." A few quiet moments. "So, did they tell you when they wanted you to show up for this?"

"5:00 on Thursday for the first one," Mato explained. "Sounds like the repairs in the gym are gonna take longer than they thought, so it'll give me something to do."

"Do you want a ride for that?" her mother asked. "The Shattered Star headquarters is quite a ways away..."

Mato shook her head. "I can walk there," she insisted. "That'll make sure I'm still getting exercise."

"This is true."

* * *

That day's lunch break found Yuu sitting in Saya's counseling room with a cup of warm coffee after a rather nasty prank. A bucket of water perched on a doorway was so classic and clichéd that Yuu had let her guard down upon evading it at the end of gym class - leaving her exposed to a personally-aimed bucket of  _ice_ water thrown at her by some of the more athletic students. The pranksters were currently serving detention, but that didn't change the fact that Yuu's gym uniform was currently hanging over a heating vent nearby.

"The first time they pranked you, you were suspended for a week after your payback," Saya mused. "I have no idea how you stop yourself from retaliating."

"That's what  _Shadow Hunter_ is for," Yuu insisted.

Saya raised her gaze at that. "Payback?"

"Ventilation," Yuu corrected. "Hordes of monsters, PvP, and no good reason to party up. It's nice to be able to just fight without thinking."

"I've **got** to see your stats if you have 'no good reason' to party up," observed Saya - who could not imagine anything with mobs thicker than  _Paradise_ being manageable by a single player.

Yuu shook her head. "It's not stats," she insisted. "I just know an NPC with a reliable stock of effect crystals. I always pick one up for temporary invulnerability."

"Well, I suppose that would help."

* * *

By the time school had ended, Yuu's gym uniform was dry enough that she could take it with her and wash it properly. Meanwhile, Yomi made her way home and found Kagari waiting in the entrance hall, seated in her wheelchair with a pastry box sitting in her lap.

"Good afternoon," Yomi greeted, closing the door behind her.

"Welcome home," Kagari mused. "I made madeleines."

She opened the box and offered one to Yomi - who, knowing better than to refuse, accepted it and took a small bite. To her credit, when Kagari made sweets, she made them very well; Yomi made a point to finish it before taking the handles of the wheelchair and leading her into the living room.

A chess board was drawn out and set up between them. "You're going to need to help me on Thursday," Kagari informed a few moves in.

"What's happening on Thursday?" Yomi inquired.

"I was invited to something," Kagari explained. "Someone from  _War of the Gods_ asked me to meet with them in person."

Yomi raised her gaze, knowing that Mary's NPC army meant that she was highly unlikely to have been invited by a _friend_. "Are you sure that's safe?" she asked.

Kagari castled, barricading her king behind a row of pawns. "It'll be fine," she insisted. "But you're going to have to help me get there."

"O-of course," Yomi murmured, moving her queen. "That works out okay. I have some things to do on Thursday anyways."

"What are you doing?" Kagari demanded.

"I dropped my  _Purgatory_ disc and it won't read anymore," Yomi explained. "I need a new one."

"So that means you can come join me in  _War of the Gods_ until then?" Kagari inquired, taking one of her knights with a rook.

"I deleted my  _War of the Gods_ avatar," Yomi reminded her. "I'll have to start over from level 1."

"Or you could transfer over," Kagari argued.

"Are  _Purgatory_ characters even compatible to be transferred to  _War of the Gods_?" Yomi asked.

Kagari nodded. "I transfer between them all the time. You can't waste time training two different avatars."

Yomi lowered her gaze. "But... I can't put my items somewhere safe if I set it up to transfer with my PC."

"The game auto-sells your items if you've got inventory before you transfer," Kagari explained. "It stops the games from glitching, and you'll have extra money when you transfer back."

"That's still only half-value," Yomi mused.

"Most of your stuff is monster drops," Kagari insisted. "You get extra money for that."

"But that means I can't just buy it back."

"You'll still come off richer for it."

"...I suppose."

Kagari's queen took position on Yomi's side of the board; the king was too far behind the pawns to escape in one move, and the rest of her pieces were in no position to take the queen or block her attack.

"Checkmate."

* * *

The next few days passed without much incident; Thursday after school found Mato en route to Shattered Star's headquarters, her bag weighed down by her NervGear. To her significant surprise, when she arrived at the building, she found a familiar face arriving from a different direction.

"Yuu?"

"Mato?" Yuu stepped forward. "What are you doing here?" When Mato hesitated worriedly, Yuu had to ask; "Did you... get invited to the beta test?"

"You too?" Mato was surprised at that, although she had wondered why Yuu had been missing from the afternoon's classes.

"Yeah. From Jonzen Black." Yuu reached into her bag. "She asked me to bring my NervGear..."

"Because she wanted your scan settings ready," Mato recalled. "She told me the same thing. Did she meet you in  _Shadow Hunter?_ "

Yuu nodded. "And I'm guessing she met you in _Inferno_."

With shared smiles, the two of them made their way inside. A scant few minutes later, a car pulled up on the streetside, containing Yomi - who was surprised to see this place - and Kagari.

"This is where you were asked to come?" Yomi inquired.

"Uh-huh." Kagari looked up at the building. "White said she wanted me to help with a beta test."

"You?"

The tone in Yomi's voice had Kagari whirling around. "I thought you said you needed a new copy of  _Purgatory_ ," she accused.

"I do," Yomi insisted. "I broke it when I was trying to log in to talk to her. We had to meet up in  _Pacifist Nation_."

A threatening smile rose on Kagari's face; Yomi quickly helped her into her wheelchair, and the two of them made their way inside as their driver took off.

Not long after, the fifth tester arrived - Saya was running somewhat later than she had intended, and now she found herself standing outside Shattered Star headquarters. Uncertain, she made her way inside; the main lobby was rather expansive, with the front desk being a good ten second's walk from the doors.

"Um, hello," Saya prompted to the secretary at the front. "My name is Saya Irino..."

"Oh, would you be Gold?" the woman inquired. At Saya's nod, she continued; "Miss Black will be with you shortly. Just through here, please." She beckoned to a nearby doorway; Saya quickly made her way through it. Four people were already gathered there; one was in a wheelchair, and Saya was surprised to find she recognized two others.

"Mato? Yuu?"

Yuu was likewise surprised. "Saya!"

"You're in the beta too?" Mato observed.

"I was wondering why your bag sounded heavier this morning," Saya accused with a smile, taking a seat nearby. Turning to the others; "And you are?"

"My name is Kagari," the girl in the wheelchair replied. "This is Yomi."

"Hello."

A door on the other side of the room opened, and everyone turned as someone stepped out. She was dressed in a sharp black business suit with trimmings the colour of sakura; her hair was a light brown, trailing down her back to her waist, and her eyes were a steely grey.

"I see you've all introduced yourselves," she observed - and everyone in the room had heard her voice before. "I am Jonzen Black. Thank you for coming today. Please bring your NervGears with you, and come with me."

* * *

The room to which Black led them was absolutely stunning. A wide-open room hosted a desk in a corner, with a simple PC sitting before it. Opposite the entrance was a massive setup; five bed-looking objects sat around a massive technologically-lit mess.

"Woah," Mato cheered. "That looks ritzy!"

Saya glanced around. "Is it only the five of us?"

Black nodded and stepped forward. "For now, yes." She turned to the players. "Now, you're all VRMMO players. Do any of you have an avatar - in any game - that looks identical to the way you look out here?"

Yomi raised her hand. Everyone turned to her accusingly.

"In  **every** way?" Black elaborated.

Yomi - who had found that glasses were distracting and superfluous in virtual reality - lowered her hand again.

"That's what I thought," Black admitted. "And have any of you been able to make your avatar look  **exactly** the way you want it to?"

Saya raised her hand this time. Yuu made to raise hers, and then thought better of it.

"To the most minute detail?" Black accused. "Hairstyle, skin tone, outfit?"

"...Equipment selections are a different problem," Saya admitted, lowering her hand.

Black shook her head. "This is a problem that has plagued video games since the 8-bit era," she insisted. "No matter what you want to change - your appearance, your weapon's functions, your abilities - there can always be something that just doesn't  _quite_ take the form you want it to. Less and less of that problem the more technology develops, but it's never been truly gone.

"And that's why you're here."

That got everybody's reaction.

"My goal is to achieve literally  _unhindered_  customization potential," Black proclaimed. "The NervGear has the ability to read your intentions directly from your brain waves, and current VR already uses that to make sure you're moving your avatar with your own body. The next step is using that reading to  _create_. Your avatar, your weapons, your skills - everything will take exactly the form that you ask."

"That can't be," Yuu argued. "That much data from so many players would take up too much space on your servers."

"Which is why it won't be stored on  _our_ servers," Black insisted. "Each player will store their customizations at their own discretion; the only limitation will be how much data your storage can hold."

Kagari spoke up. "What about balance?" she argued. "If you let players decide their stats, it's going to turn into an arms race."

"Your customizations decide what your weapons and abilities do," Black replied. "The player's level determines how  _well_ it can do that. Clash is determined by the player's stats, and the player's stats are determined by their level."

The more they heard, the more dedicated this began to sound.

"Shall we get to the testing?" Black offered.

Mato nodded. "Yes!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you never have a psychological clash between two characters take place during a chess game with the dominant making checkmate, you are wasting the opportunity for some very good symbolism. The B★RS anime gets a pass because battles in the Otherworld are not even comparable, but not every setting has otherselves to beat each other up.
> 
> I acknowledge that this barely counts as 'during a chess game', but when I tried to write out the moves entirely it was way too lengthy and completely killed the mood.


	4. Creators

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I get 80% of my anime experiences from Netflix. Which makes it really annoying that B★RS isn't available on there. My laptop does not approve of a 30-minute stream.

"Link start!"

 **Touch - OK!**  
**Sight - OK!**

 **Hearing - OK!**  
**Taste - OK!**  
**Smell - OK!**

 **Login_::**  
account:  
[****]  
password:  
[*********]

_=Welcome to Otherworld=  
_

Rock opened her eyes.

She was standing on an open plain of white stone. It wasn't featureless, for she could see several formations upon the surface; nor was it evocative of a void, for the skies above were deep azure to form a horizon. The HP bar in the corner of her vision was a bright blue, with her user ID  _Rock_ at the base, and below the tip read _LV1_. A glance down at herself revealed she was wearing a blue tank top and baggy leggings in black.

After a few moments, the others manifested around her - everyone was in a different-coloured top, although they all had black leggings. Nobody looked much different than they did IRL (although those with long hair had some amusing taper-offs where the system assumed they ended shortly beyond the scan), and a hand going up to her hair told Rock she had the short twintails under her NervGear rather than the usual single long tail she had in  _Inferno_. A sixth figure appearing as everyone looked over themselves drew their attention as the appeared, wearing a long black cloak.

"Shall we do introductions in here?" she inquired. "I'm White."

"Rock."

"Gold." She was dressed in red.

"Dead." Her top was green.

"Mary." Yellow.

"Yew."

The name of the one in orange earned a laugh from Mary. "Yuu is Yew?" she taunted. "Not very imaginative."

White raised a hand to quiet them before a fight could break out. "The NervGear will read exactly what you want to change," she informed them, "but you have to focus to make it activate. Yew, try to change something in your avatar."

Yew closed her eyes, audibly inhaling... then a brief flash of light wrapped her hair, and when it faded, the strands turned pale grey. Dead gave an impressed gasp, and she and Mary quickly fixed their hair with similar flashes as Yew pulled a strand into her vision. "That's... exactly what I was going for," she mused.

"Easier than sampling dye colours to see what matches your intentions, huh?" White observed. "Same with your outfits. You're all wearing the default attire right now, but you can change it entirely without affecting your stats. Gold?"

Gold held a hand before her and then closed her eyes. A flash of light wrapped her upper body; by the time it was gone, her tank top had been replaced with a long-sleeved jacket short enough to bare her midriff... and only done up enough to cover her breasts.

"Yeesh," Mary hissed. "Don't let her into  _Nightlighter_."

"I like the feeling of wind on my skin," Gold defended.

"Each their own," White insisted. "It's more than just clothes or hair. You can actually change what your avatar's body is like. I  _did_ put a restriction in to make sure you're at least staying with a humanoid figure," she added before anyone could try to change, "but only because the engine doesn't let you open your menu otherwise. Mary, want to try something a little bigger?"

Mary had a smirk on her face as she closed her eyes; a brief flash of light wrapped everything below her waist... and when it faded, the long pants had been changed into shorts. White was about to comment before the region of her legs  _below_ the shorts were similarly lightened; this time, the flash gave way to reveal her legs had turned mechanized, with a pair of bright yellow wheels where her feet should have been.

Rock gave an impressed cheer as Mary glanced down; her legs moved forward and back like she were taking a couple steps in place, and she arced into a spin before dashing forward and running a quick circle around Dead. "Now this is nice!" she hissed.

"Very nice," White praised. "You can even make part of your body deal damage if you'd like - or, if you'd prefer, you can generate one to be held in your hands. Rock, conjure a weapon."

All eyes were on Rock as she closed hers, holding out her left hand. A long flash manifested in the air before it, and she closed her fingers in the light as it faded out, revealing a sword. The handle was wrapped in black leather, though the uncovered pommel was a grey steel; the hilt and blade seemed to be one part, a deep black sharpened on one side and grey on the back end.

"Where does a player from  _Inferno_  get the idea to make a sword?" Yew accused.

"Thought I'd start simple," Rock insisted, angling the blade in and then out before raising it and swinging it down. A small flash at her right hip formed a black ring, into which she sheathed the blade.

"Appreciated," White admitted, "but unnecessary. _Otherworld_ is ready for whatever you can throw at it. Dead, you want to try something a little more elaborate?"

Dead hesitated for a moment, glancing down at herself; then she closed her eyes, raising one hand with fingers curled slightly. A localized flash appeared around her hand, and when it faded, there was what appeared to be a white dove perched on her index finger; then it spread its wings briefly, revealing feathers in orange, pink, blue, purple, red.

A sound of admiration broke its way out of Rock's mouth before she could stop it, drawing Dead's attention. "That... That's the little bird of many, many colours, right?"

"You know of it?" Dead asked.

White chuckled. "What's this little one do?"

"I wanted it to act as a messenger," Dead explained. "Here, if I..." She reached a finger towards the little bird, and a prompt button appeared beneath the tip; a keyboard appeared before her, and she tapped at it quickly for a moment before it faded. Then a listing appeared, and she tapped an item on the list; as it vanished, the little bird flew towards Yew. It came to a stop at arm's length, a prompt button appearing before Yew, and she tapped it, causing a dialogue window to appear as the bird flew back to Dead.

"It says...  _I like your name?_ " Yew raised her gaze towards Dead, who nodded.

Gold smiled, turning to White. "So  _Otherworld_ is just gonna be a huge sandbox?" she inquired.

"Not quite," White insisted. "Customizations for what you can do, how you look, what you wear - there are some players who'll come here just for that. But we've been working on Otherworld for... five years now." She swept her hand down to open up a menu - with several submenus floating around that told them White had moderator privileges. "You're here to see if the game's generation engine is as thorough as we've tried to make it."

She tapped something on one of the submenus. "Which means we're gonna need to give you some reasons to keep making."

Something manifested behind Rock; she and the others quickly turned around to find a boar-like figure standing there - half as tall as Gold with a pair of threatening tusks. It squealed, rearing back briefly before charging forward, and everyone yelled in shock, pulling away. Rock quickly drew her sword again, bracing one hand against the back of the blade and moving it to meet the boar's tusks... and found herself skidding back, grinding her feet against the white stone beneath her before lashing a foot forward and kicking it in the underside of the jaw. As the pig recoiled, she quickly moved her blade and slashed across its snout, causing it to turn - an HP bar appeared above it in black, receding slightly - and it charged away before turning towards Mary and Dead.

"Conjure a weapon!" White commanded.

Mary quickly charged forward to meet the boar, closing her eyes briefly as a round flash appeared around her left hand. It parted to reveal a heavy shield closed in her grip, and she moved it before her and braced her feet to provide friction. The pig's tusks slammed into the shield roughly enough to give itself HP damage, and Dead took action; a long flash emerged from her hand, manifesting as a spear with a hooked blade that she jabbed into the boar's side. With a squeal and another hit off its bar - which faded to a lighter grey - it broke away from Mary's shield and charged towards Yew and Gold; Yew quickly raised her hands, and a flash of light took the form of bulky metal gloves that extended halfway up her arms. The boar made to gore her and found its tusks grabbed by those protected arms; Gold braced both of her hands before her, and another flash manifested a massive single-edged blade that she drove into the boar's side to take off some more HP. Yew didn't let go when the hit landed, either - her hands moved opposite, and with a  _crack_ the boar's tusks broke off, shattering into fragments of light in her grip as another chunk was taken out of its bar - which lightened again, becoming almost white - and she landed a kick on the side of its head to turn it back towards Rock.

Rock raised her right hand - a flash of light manifested on her upper arm, taking the form of a black ring. More flashes appeared in the air around her, and everyone started when they became black fragments that surged towards Rock's arm, connecting to the ring and then each other as the boar charged her. They kept connected, more than doubling the length of her arm as they took the form of a massive black cannon that she leveled on the boar that was nearly in contact with it.

A  _boom_  emerged from the weapon, and a shower of black fragments surged out of the barrel, ripping through the boar point-blank and dissipating in the air behind it. The pig went still mid-charge, its body becoming transparent and rippling before it shattered into a flurry of white shards.

White smiled, clapping her hands appreciatively. "Now that's more like it!" she praised.

"Was that whole..." Mary raised her empty right hand, swinging it into a bunch of converging lines "...thing really necessary?"

"I wanted to see if the mobs had any AI for theatrics," Rock defended.

"When has a mob  _ever_ had AI for theatrics?" Yew argued.

"You'd be surprised what you find in some dungeons," Gold argued.

A sigh emerged from Dead, and she had opened her mouth to speak when a snort from the side interrupted her. Everyone turned to find another three boars were standing there, one of them grinding its hoof against the ground. White smirked, taking a few steps back and making a 'go ahead' motion, and the five beta testers glanced at her before turning back to the boars.

Gold swung her blade to the side, and a flash of light wrapped her hair, causing it to elongate halfway down her back; another flash around her legs turned her black leggings into armoured greaves in crimson that stopped at mid-thigh, with jagged-bladed satabatons.

Mary raised her hand with a surge as a broadsword appeared in her grip - double-edged and asymmetrical, the handle almost as long as the blade, with a pair of spikes to form across-hilt - and she kicked her wheel-feet against the ground for another pair of lights as another pair of spikes manifested on the outer sides.

Yew rolled her shoulders, swinging her hands back, and with a flash her armoured gauntlets became connected by a flexible metal join that connected on her back; a mechanical whir sounded as she moved them forward again, and she bashed the knuckles together before taking a fighting stance.

Dead raised a hand up to her face, and a pair of narrow green glasses appeared upon her face as she gripped one of the arms and lifted them to settle around her eyes; she swung her spear out, and the blade was wrapped in light, becoming a long, arced edge at a right angle to the shaft.

Rock closed her eyes, and her top and leggings were wrapped in light, becoming a long hooded jacket in black and a pair of short shorts; another flash wrapped her hair beneath it, and she raised the hand holding her blade to throw the hood back to reveal a pair of long, unequal twintails.

"Bring it."

* * *

It was a couple hours before they logged out; Mato was the first to rise, pulling off her NervGear with a sigh of excitement. "Woah," she murmured. "This thing is going to be..."

"Huge," Yuu commented from the next bed, sitting up as well.

Black was sitting at the desk in the corner, having already taken off her NervGear. "You certainly aren't lacking in creativity," she praised, "but we're only just getting started. Is there any chance you five could come here again tomorrow?"

Mato chuckled. "I think so, yeah," she admitted. "I'll have to talk to my mom about it, but I think I can make it."

"I... can make it, yes," Yuu insisted.

Saya nodded. "No problem."

"We'll be here," Kagari proclaimed. "Right, Yomi?"

There was a threatening tone to her voice, but Yomi only nodded. "Yes."

"Alright, then. I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

The testers went their separate ways; Black was still in the beta room when Viola Grey arrived. "What did you think of them?" he inquired.

"Quite the diverse selection of characters," she admitted. "But I can't help but wonder why you chose those five."

"Koutari is the most relentless fighter in  _Shadow Hunter_ ," Grey insisted. "Takanashi does more customization than anyone else in  _Purgatory_. A paraplegic like Izuriha needs to be able to enjoy a VRMMO. And Irino is a counselor - if the NervGear starts having any adverse effects, she'll notice."

"And Kuroi?" Black asked.

"That girl has recruited every member of her guild single-handedly," Grey observed. "That cheerful attitude will keep them in a good mood. A creative mood."

Black smiled. "You really have thought of everything, haven't you?"

"Oh, you have  _no_ idea."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With my B★RS mood being fueled by Zelda (still no idea how that's working), I couldn't resist the urge to make some references to Breath of the Wild.


	5. Explorers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any of my readers played Time and Eternity? It's a fun PS3 game. It really pushes the envelope on a T rating and it's kind of hard to keep a straight face on it, but the story is really worth enjoying and the gameplay is just wonderful. I strongly recommend it to anyone who gets the chance to look into it.
> 
> I'm bringing this up because I'm absolutely horrid at coming up with enemy designs. Also, the combat system in T&E is apparently based on that of B★RS The Game... so, if you recognize some of the fighting hints I drop after having said I currently can't play B★RS, that would be why.

"...and then Mary was like 'Shield!' and Dead jumped up on her big one, and she used it like a springboard and just - _yah!_ \- and sliced its head clean off!"

Mato was regaling the beta test to her mom and her brother Hiro while dinner was being prepared. "Sounds like someone rather enjoyed herself," her mother observed. "When did they want you to come in for the next one?"

"She said tomorrow," Mato explained. "Is that gonna-"

"No, no," her mother insisted. "It's not a problem. You have some fun."

"And let us know what else you get up to!" Hiro added.

"I will!" Mato promised.

* * *

The next day found Yuu, Mato, and Saya all making their way to the Shattered Star building together. No sooner had they arrived than a jet-black sports car parked outside with a license plate reading  _SNBZKRA_ ; from the driver's seat emerged Jonzen Black with a smile on her face. "Your timing is impeccable," she praised.

Yomi and Kagari were already inside; they made their way to the beta room, and Black laid out the explanations. "I isolated everything you guys made yesterday," she explained, "and set it into your inventories. I'd like you all to assign names to everything before we start creating anything else."

"No problem," Mato assured her.

Jonzen made her way to the desk, reclining her seat before equipping her NervGear; the testers each put on their own and laid themselves down on the beds.

"Link start!"

* * *

"...It's just no fun."

After a couple hours at the beta, the testers had gone home; a brief meal for dinner, and then Mary and Dead had met up in  _War of the Gods_. At Mary's comment, Dead could only ask, "What do you mean?"

Mary held her sword before her. "It's only been two so far. Just two rounds in  _Otherworld_. We've only done, what, six hours? And coming back to a game like this..." She shook her head. "It's just no fun."

Dead shook her head. "Sixteen kingdoms," she observed. "You've only got one left, do you really want to call it quits now?"

"I guess not," she admitted. "But any combat system's gonna feel weak after this beta test. Once I've got my name in the Graveyard, I think I'm gonna stick to the lazier games. Maybe get a copy of _Hanafuda House_."

"That's not a bad thing."

* * *

The tenth day of the beta test, Rock opened her eyes to find herself in a very different place. Rather than the white field of the first nine tests, now she was standing in a dark, purple-lit cave, with several illuminated crystals protruding from the walls. The others weren't around her, implying they'd yet to log in, and she quickly opened her menu and tapped to her inventory.

Black Blade  
★rock Cannon - SHG  
Shooter's Jacket  
★rock Cannon - RF  
★rock Cannon - MIS  
★rock Cannon - ROK  
★rock Cannon - BOM

Rock was not particularly proud to admit that she hadn't done the most in terms of customizations; just variations on her heavy projectile weapon and how it fired. The last customization she'd done - turning the barrel into a crushing blade - was yet unnamed; she quickly tapped the input field and entered ★rock Cannon - LNC before tapping Save.

_"Can everyone hear me?"_

The voice echoing around her drew Rock's attention; she was still standing alone. "White?"

_"Two three four... five. Okay, we're going to do something a little different today. So far, we've been focusing on equipment generation and avatar customization. Today, you're sitting in a dungeon I've prepared. You're all standing more-or-less equidistant from the room I'm in. I want you to make your way here - and when you come across an obstacle, give yourself an ability that'll help you get past it. You guys are only level seven so far - that means any abilities probably won't work to the full extent they would if you had completely free-reign. I've tried not to make the travel too difficult. That being said, work smart, not hard."_

Rock sighed. "That sounds fair."

_"Good luck!"_

At White's sign-off, Rock started forward. It wasn't long before a few monsters spawned - three small, fat figures made of what looked like dirt, with bulky arms and short legs. Her cannon quickly manifested on her arm in RF mode, and she aimed at the central enemy and fired once, twice, thrice; the fourth time took it out, and another started to dash towards her. Rock waited for it to leap towards her, intending to connect with a full-bodied tackle, and quickly leapt aside; her Black Blade appeared in her grip, and she slashed at it a few times before it shattered and fell apart. The third leapt skyward, and then brought its hands down - and a chunk of stone broke out of the ground beneath Rock, sending her stumbling. With a grunt, she switched her cannon to MIS mode, firing a pair of shots that arced through the air and slammed into the golem in succession.

Once it fell apart, she glanced around; no more monsters appeared, and her ★rock Cannon faded out save for the black ring on her arm as she sheathed her Black Blade on the ring at her hip. The cave seemed to come to a dead-end, but a circular segment of noticeably different composition bore a silver wave design. Rock set her hands against it and tried to push, but only found her feet skidding against the ground; an effort to move it to the side was much more successful, and the segment rolled into the hollow wall as she stepped through - only to roll back into place once she was on the other side.

With a sigh, Rock turned her attention back to the room. She was standing at the bottom of a round, tall room; an open space near the top of the room was prominently lit, telling her that was where she needed to go. Several ledges were protruding along the walls at uncommon intervals, and something was standing in an alcove at the top of the room - another golem.

Her ★rock Cannon appeared in ROK mode, and she fired a single heavy shot that soared up, knocked the golem into a spin, and connected with the roof hard enough to send small fragments tumbling down towards her. The golem made to leap up, but another shot was enough to take it out; the weapon faded, and Rock quickly glanced around. The ledges seemed to be near enough to one another. Maybe she could...

She took a step back and then charged towards the wall; one foot collided with the surface, and she willed herself to run up the surface.  _Otherworld_ heard her, and she charged up the stone... for fourteen steps, which was enough that when she righted herself, she was able to grab the ledge and pull herself up. The next ledge was nearer to that one, close enough that she was able to climb onto it with those fourteen steps; the next one was a bit further away than she could make it, and Rock found herself plummeting down to the base level again.

Up to one, two. After a moment, Rock aimed a hand at the point where she had lost her momentum - and a solid blue, flat square manifested there. She was about to start up the wall again, but thought better of it; sure enough, the platform fell away after seven seconds, fading out and shattering before it hit the ground. With a smirk, Rock charged up towards the ledge; when her momentum gave out, she manifested another platform as high as her hand could reach, then quickly pulled herself on it and leapt to the next ledge before it fell away. 

All that was left was the access to the next portion - but it was in the wall across the room, and at least as much higher up as the second ledge was from the first. Rock tried manifesting a platform in the air, only for it to fall immediately; when she tried to form two along the wall, the first one vanished as the second appeared, and the second only had six seconds before it fell.

"That could still..." Rock quickly charged diagonally up the wall, generating the platform at arm's length when she hit her fourteenth step; she quickly pulled herself upon it, and when it began to fall, she resumed charging the wall. This time she only had ten steps before she ran out of momentum; another platform gave her a handhold, but she was barely upon it before it began to fall as well. She leapt towards the alcove leading forward; her left hand skimmed the ridge, and in desperation she drew her Black Blade in her right and tried to drive it into the wall.

And it sunk in to the hilt, stopping her fall entire.

Rock sighed in relief; not even two seconds later did the blade shift at an angle that started slipping out, and she quickly pulled herself up high enough to grasp the edge of the alcove before releasing the blade and pulling herself up.

* * *

A fat bird the size of her torso slammed into Mary's shield; this one was a massive, gear-shaped plate almost bigger than she was, and that collision caused spikes to rip out from several circular patterns on its surface to harm her attacker. She quickly raised her sword - double-edged and symmetrical, black with gold ornamentation on the flat and a handle that was one piece with the blade - and slammed it across the bird's beak, causing it to reel and shatter into light.

That was the last of a flock of four birds; after making sure she was alone; Mary sheathed the sword in a proper scabbard on her back before hooking the shield over it. Rolling forward on her wheeled feet took her to a small double-door in the stone - unlocked, as an experimental twist of the handle revealed. On the other side was a long gap, three times as deep as Mary was tall; a few ledges provided a gradual descent from her side, but the opposite side had no such mercy. There was a decent amount of space between the door and the edge of the gap, and Mary moved up to the edge to get a proper feel for the space she had to work with before rolling back to the door.

"Let's see." She quickly charged forward, willing the engine to push her as fast as she could go, and as she reached the edge of the gap she pushed herself into a leap. To her dismay, however, she was descending before she was even halfway across the gap; an attempt to grab the ledge as she neared it found it just beyond her fingertips, and she slammed unpleasantly into the wall - hard enough to cause HP damage - and rebounded off, landing in the bottom of the gap back-first and then tumbling onto her stomach.

"Dammit."

The ledges were easy enough to climb up; the doors had nothing between them, giving Mary the option of opening them both wide in an effort to build up more momentum. To no avail; she slammed into the wall no differently than last time, taking another chunk out of her HP. Getting back up to the door, she reasoned the problem was her level; she couldn't go any faster no matter how much room she had, because her abilities were limited by her stats. Instead, she tried something different; she charged towards the gap again, and at her prompting she found herself skating on thin air.

For two seconds, before she fell and found herself tumbling roughly down the ledges on her side of the gap. Still, she was pleased the game let her do that; as she got to her feet, she climbed back up with a muttering of "I think that..." When she skated forward at full speed, those two seconds were enough, and when she leapt, this time she made it far enough that her entire upper body was above the ledge, giving her plenty of leverage to throw one leg over the edge.

Too late did she realize that her feet being wheels meant they weren't very good at generating friction, and she found herself tumbling back into the gap.

* * *

A few specters brandishing lanterns and scythes shattered under Yew's fists - now large enough to drag on the ground, and connected to a scorpion-like tail on her back. Once she was sure the one she had just struck down was the last, the fists folded back onto her arms, and she continued forward - eventually finding herself looking at a giant metal gate.

"Hm."

For a brief moment she hoped that the sheer size of her fists would allow her to lift the gate just via leverage, but no such luck. The gates were being held in place by a weight far stronger than her current stats would let her lift. Yet the gate itself didn't seem like it should be so heavy; curious, Yew willed herself to be able to see the metal connections. And sure enough,  _Otherworld_ answered her prompt; she could see the gearwork that the gate was part of to, an interlocking sequence of metal that connected to... a crystal on either side?

The visual faded;  _Otherworld_ wouldn't let her see it forever, and not for long at her level. Still, it was enough; Yew slammed a fist into one crystal, and found a gear exposed beneath it. Another blow on the other crystal bared another gear beneath that; this time, when she tried to lift the gate, it reacted to her efforts - although it was still beyond her ability to lift. Yew waited a few moments to make sure it wouldn't get cut off again, and then made to view the gearwork again; there was something jammed in the gearwork on one side, within the stone. As the view vanished, Yew tried slamming a blow into the wall, only for a blue panel to light up upon it.  Immortal Object \- she couldn't affect the structure of the dungeon.

Pulling the weapon back, the fists drew away from her hands entire; then she setting the fingers of one hand against the wall where she had seen the blockage. Thoughtfully, she willed the obstruction to follow her hand's movement - and as she moved it along the wall, she could hear something behind it grating. A visual of the gearwork again revealed the item following her, and once it was in the gap where the crystal had been, she was able to grasp it in her hand - a small orb of black stone, the size of a baseball.

This time, when she made to lift the gate, the gears turned willingly.

* * *

A bronze suit of armour, brandishing a double-bladed hatchet, fell apart at a swing of Gold's blade. This blade was nearly as long as she was tall, and thick as her waist to boot; the surface was a red so deep it was nearly black, but along the edge was a brighter red hue. The dark edge was serrated, while the bright edge was sharpened and arced; a basket guard curled around her hand, extending further from the hilt than it took the handle to stop at the pommel.

Gold slipped the blade through a large ring hooked on her back and continued forward, finding a curious segment of wall that pulled away to all directions when she set her hand against it. She stepped through it and found a curious hole in the roof above her; a few steps later found her in a large, squared-off pit with a ledge, leading into an alcove, on the opposite wall a good deal downwards... and no apparent bottom.

"White, I certainly hope you didn't make this kill me," she muttered, taking a few steps back; then she dashed forward, leaping towards the ledge. It was more than low enough for her to reach it in that bound - but the moment she collided with it, it started to crumble. Gold had no chance to continue into the alcove before it fell into the pit, and she yelled as she tumbled in...

...and dropped onto the floor.

With a confused yelp, she shot upright; she was standing in front of the receding wall she had come in through. After a moment, she got back to her feet and looked into the gap again; the ledge was re-growing out of the wall before the alcove, and it only took a few seconds before it was as good as new. "So it just breaks when I land on it?" she murmured, drawing her blade again and throwing it at the ledge. Sure enough, when it collided, the ledge fell apart again, taking her blade with the fragments as they tumbled into the pit - then a clatter drew her attention, and she turned to find her blade sitting behind her.

She picked it back up, gazing at the regrowing ledge. "I wonder if..." She hoisted the blade two-handed over her shoulder, then hurled it at the wall within the alcove; it collided with the stone, and an Immortal Object notice lit up where it collided; it briefly had upwards momentum again before it tumbled onto the ledge... and the ledge went nowhere. It needed a strong enough impact - landing from the height was strong enough to cause that.

Curious, Gold leapt towards the wall of the pit; when she asked to seize the wall as she connected, she found she could. A brief swing was enough to put her a good deal forward, whereupon she gripped the wall again, and then again; when she tried to drop slightly, however, her hands refused to hold her to the wall, and she collided with the ledge hard enough to send her and her blade back to the entrance.

"Only three?" she murmured, picking her weapon back up. "I guess that's where my level comes in."

The three were enough to get her around; she just needed to descend this time as she did.

* * *

A flying manta-esque figure was cut down by Dead's scythe. The blade was now jagged and double-edged, with a black protrusion opposite so the edge could be braced around an enemy's limb; the shaft was arced, with another blade near the join and a spearhead at the base. Dead hooked the weapon over her shoulder as she stepped forward, finding a segment of the wall that raised up for her when she made to touch it; she quickly stepped through and watched as it closed behind her.

She was standing in a long hallway that widened and then narrowed again; several gargoyle statues stood to either side, spaced so that each faced a gap between two opposite, all armed with what looked like crossbows. With a sigh, she swept her scythe back and hurled it forward - and sure enough, bolts flew from the gargoyle statues, slicing through the air immediately behind the weapon before it hit the ground and skidded to the narrowed section. Dead couldn't move as fast as her weapon did; she knew she'd end up speared if she tried to dash through it without thinking.

With a hum, she glanced down at the floor; the floor in the widened section was covered in tiles, but her scythe being shot at mid-flight told her they weren't pressure-sensors to active the gargoyles. A thought occurred to her - she aimed a finger at a tile in the center of the floor, and it lifted into the air with a rapid spin... and once it was high enough, it was shot by the gargoyle lined up with it.

Dead smirked; then she charged forward, and every time a gargoyle shot at her, she raised a tile to meet its bolt.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kagari's a bitch, I enjoyed giving her a little suffering just now.
> 
> A bit late to try and guess, but the concept designer is a Senbonzakura reference. It's a stupid little encryption I came up with; line the alphabet up, isolate the vowels, and then reverse both segments. 'SENBONZAKURA' put through this encryption becomes 'JONZENBURAKU'. 'Burakku' is the romaji reading of the English word 'Black'. Hence, Jonzen Black.


	6. Combatants

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you know it's coming out in December 2017, you -should- have an exact date by December 1st 2017, right?

Rock had just hit Level 10 when she found herself stepping into a wide-open round room, with a wide hole in the ceiling. There were five more openings in the wall nearby, and after a moment, from them emerged Yew, Dead, Gold, and Mary. Rock was caught by surprise when she saw Mary's HP was down to half; Dead noticed as well, and asked, "What happened?"

"When you run into something at high speed, it  **hurts** , okay?" Mary defended.

Gold sighed. "Where's White? This is what she was talking about, isn't it?"

Concern caught Rock's mind; she quickly held her arm out to one side, and her ★rock Cannon appeared in BOM mode. The others followed her lead; Gold brandished her heavy blade, Mary drew her sword and shield, and Yew's fists unfolded to position on her arms. Dead held her scythe forward at an angle, and her Colourful Bird appeared perched on that index finger; she quickly tapped a short message with her left hand and then chose the recipient before prompting the bird to fly forward.

A sudden shadow was cast upon the floor beneath it.

Nobody had the chance to react before something descended from the ceiling - a massive, pale figure dropped out of the hole, and the little bird had no chance to react before one foot collided with it and slammed it to the ground. The creature was taller than the entire group combined, covered in muscle and scars; its face had four eyes and a many-fanged mouth, and in each hand was gripped a massive wooden hammer.

Beside the creature's head appeared two HP bars in black, and above its head appeared its name: Silver Titan

Rock glared, swinging her cannon above her head; the barrel pulled itself open, forming a starburst above her as three smaller barrels extended out of the base. The main build closed upon it, giving the barrels a rotating base, and black shards manifested in the air to expand its structure; a tripod that supported it as it was brought down, a handle that Rock's empty hand grasped to aim it, and a massive circular ammo feed that began to rotate as the barrels began to spin.

Shots flew from the barrels, and spent shells cascaded out of the side of the weapon as the bullets slammed into the titan. Dead gave a scream somewhere between horror and fury, charging forward with her scythe raised; Mary quickly followed her lead, with Gold and Yew charging after them. The monster raised one of its hammers, making to bring it down on Dead at the lead, but Yew quickly came up behind her, slamming a fist into the hammer before it could strike them. The hammer reeled back, and Rock stopped firing long enough for the spent shells around her feet to shatter into light; Mary leapt up, slamming the flat of her shield into the titan's stomach, and spikes shot out to deal damage - and provide enough leverage for her to throw her self higher up and drive her blade into its chest.

Dead and Gold drove twin slashes into one of the titan's legs, causing it to kneel over; Mary threw herself higher up and landed upon its shoulder, giving Rock the opening to resume firing. The bullets bombarded into its face, and as it started to pull back up Yew grabbed one of its hammers. Her attempt to disarm the giant fell flat when it simply dragged her into the air, but she elected to use that to her advantage, vaulting over the head of the hammer and landing on its shoulder opposite Mary to join in her onslaught. Rock quickly redirected her firing to bombard the titan's chest, and Dead and Gold began striking at the legs of the creature.

With the constant strikes, it didn't take long for one HP bar to pale and then vanish, and the second was quickly beaten down to a quarter.  _That_ was when things got serious; the titan went still for a moment, and then  _roared_ , sending visible shockwaves in every direction from its mouth. Mary and Yew were knocked off its shoulders, and Rock's bullets were sent back the way they came, leaving her to vanish her cannon and leap aside. A steely glow wrapped the titan's legs and torso, and steel spikes ripped out the sides of its hammers. Rock invoked her cannon back in BOM mode, firing a shot at the flat of each hammer's head; the shots connected and stuck there, and when it raised one to swing at Dead, they  _exploded_ , sending the creature stumbling back.

Dead leapt back, looking over the titan - its head wasn't covered in the same glow as the rest of its body - before she charged forward, yelling, "Shield!" Mary quickly rolled into position, dropping to a kneel and raising her shield; Dead promptly mounted its surface, and Mary shot upright to propel her higher. The titan tried to swing at her, but Dead managed to weave around the blow and bring her scythe down into one of its eyes. Another roar knocked her back to the ground, leaving the scythe impaled in its eye, and Rock quickly charged forward as it swung a hammer across the ground. Mary's attempt to block it and Yew's attempt to strike it back were both met with failure, and they slammed into Gold before she could join in the effort; then the other hammer was raised, and the unarmed Dead wasn't even on her feet yet.

Friendly fire wouldn't do as much damage as that strike would; the ★rock Cannon slammed into Dead's back, throwing her forward and between the titan's feet; then the barrel shifted, and Rock made to draw her blade as the hammer was brought down hard onto her.

After a moment, the hammer was lifted again... and Rock, who had been at nearly full HP to this point, hung off the sword impaled in its surface, raising her cannon.

"Gunshot."

A point-blank SHG blast to the face had the titan reeling, with Dead's scythe spinning in the air where its head had been; Rock wrenched her blade out and let her cannon fade, grabbing the falling scythe as she descended to the ground. The titan hit the ground as the last of its HP bar faded out, and its body turned translucent, shimmered, and shattered into light.

* * *

The week continued in this fashion, with White preparing dungeons and the beta testers working their way through them, often creating new abilities with every obstacle. That Friday, however, found Rock standing in an enclosed area, with a gate leading to what looked like a colosseum with a tiled floor; her seven different ★rock Cannons and her Black Blade were lined up on a rack on the wall, and her Shooter's Jacket was hanging on a coathook. Glancing down at herself revealed she was back in the default attire - blue tank top and black leggings, although her hair was still in its uneven twintails - and when she opened her menu, she was concerned to find her inventory was **empty**.

"White, what are you doing?"

_"Two, three, four... five."_

White's voice echoed around her - and, presumably, the others - causing Rock to turn to the gate.

_"You've all checked your inventories. I couldn't help but notice that you guys have found was works nice for you and have been sticking to it. As much as I appreciate that you all know your preferences, we want to push Otherworld as hard as it'll go. I've prevented you from re-invoking anything you guys have created so far - and yes, Rock, that means no more cannons. I want you to be making new things on the fly."_

The gate opened up, drawing Rock's attention.

_"Good luck."_

Rock sighed, glancing down at herself. After some slight consideration, her garb was wrapped in light; when it faded, her upper torso was wrapped in black armour, with full gauntlets to cover her hands. An oversized belt, hanging loose enough to act as a makeshift holster, wrapped around a pair of black shorts, and black-armoured greaves covered her legs from the knee down, with a pair of thin black edges rising up from each boot.

She stepped out into the battlefield, finding the others waiting for her. Dead's somewhat fancy dress and menacing glasses were gone, and she now wore a black one-piece ensemble, with a pair of jagged blades emerging from the back. Gold had red, bony claws around her fingers, and a pair of similarly-formed horns rising from beneath her hair; other than that, she'd been satisfied with the default attire. Yew's black hooded vest with white flames was also gone; now she wore a simple, hooded black cloak that concealed her entirely. Mary was actually lacking her wheeled feet, although she now wore some black gloves with wicked talons, and a black, spiky crown rested atop her head.

The five gates they had come through, along one side of the open arena, now closed; immediately opposite Rock's was a much larger gate, and as a ROUND 1 message appeared in the air above them, the gate shot open. A swarm of what looked like bats emerged from the gap, soaring towards them, and everyone took a fighting stance.

Dead was the first to conjure a weapon - a silver sickle with a green tint on both edges of the blade, visibly sharpened. Yew followed suit, and on her hands appeared what looked like massive claws - four to a hand, each claw the size of a combat knife. Mary quickly raised a hand, generating a small shield with blades around the outside edge; after a moment's thought, another, identical shield appeared in her right hand. Gold swept one hand to her side, and a long, curved sword appeared in her grip; in her other hand appeared a small knife, and she raised the sword before her.

The swarm shot forward, a unit of bats flying towards each of the players. Rock closed her eyes briefly, and a weapon appeared in her left hand - a curved, orange blade with a handle embedded within its surface. She hurled it into the swarm, and watched with satisfaction when it carved its way through the bats and then arced back towards her - slashing through the swarm Yew was busy with in the process. She quickly grasped it as it neared her, using it to slash at the remaining swarm around her; once she was done, she shoved the edge into the loop of her belt, finding the others were still busy - although Yew and Gold had surprisingly few enemies to deal with, Mary and Dead were on the defensive.

Flashes generated pink orbs in her grip with indented segments; she pressed the indent on one and hurled it at the swarm Dead was dealing with. Once it was near enough, it _blast_ \- a pink flame that consumed the bats and came dangerously close to Dead. Rock hurled the other at Mary's swarm, wiping out most of the bats and leaving few enough for her to wipe out; another pink orb appeared in her grip, but Yew and Gold had finished off the last few bats.

Dead glanced at the orb in Rock's hand and then the blade in her belt. "That's..."

Rock smiled. "In the tears of heaven, the little bird flies."

A ROUND 2 message appeared above them, and they turned their attention back to the gate as it opened up again. This one had a quartet of lizard-like figures brandishing knives; Rock quickly drew her throwing weapon and hurled it towards them, tossing her orb after it. The orange blade sliced through one on the forward motion and redirected through another on the return, and the blast hit the remaining two and the first; Rock seized the throwing weapon on the return and holstered it again; in each hand appeared a small blue blade, and she hurled one at the most battered lizard whilst her friends charge the other three. Once it had connected, she threw the other, and third manifested in her grip before the second had connected. Dead and Mary double-teamed the one that had only taken her boomerang; Yew and Gold each stuck at one of the ones burned by her blast.

One faded, two more faded, and Rock finished off the last with a throw of her edge; as it shattered, the blue knives stuck in its body tumbled to the ground. ROUND 3 was proclaimed above them, and a pair of massive snakes slithered out of the cage; Dead glanced at the floor where Rock's knives had landed and quickly lifted a tile of the floor, causing it to spin and throw the blades into their opponents. In Rock's hand appeared a purple, cylindrical figure; when she threw it, it burst with a purple smoke that wrapped the snakes, causing their HP gauges to gradually diminish; Dead and Yew both drove their weapons into the snakes and found the blows dealing significantly more damage... but also found that the smoke caused  _them_ damage, prompting them to retreat.

"Sorry!"

A blow from Mary and a blow from Gold were enough to finish off the snakes; the smoke had yet to clear before the ROUND 4 notification appeared above them, and the gate opened as a four-legged stone figure stepped out, with black crystals sticking out of its back. The lingering haze did damage significantly slower than it had to the snakes before it faded, and Yew charged forward and drove her claws into its side; rocks started ripping out of the ground and flying towards the fighters, putting them on the evasive as they tried to fight.

Rock raised her hand, causing a bright red revolver appeared in her grip. A pull of the trigger fired a blast of  _flame_ , and it slammed into one of the crystals, knocking a noticeable chunk off of the crawler's HP. Mary was the first to climb atop the monster, making to strike at its crystals with her shields... this proved a bad idea when the crawler tilted, knocking her off, before knocking her aside with a kick that dealt a surprising amount of damage.

Gold slipped her knife into a sheath at her hip and held out her hand - a dark silver shape that looked like a watering can appeared in her grip, and she directed it over Mary and angled it to pour. Nothing trailed from the head, but a shimmer washed over Mary, who found her HP restoring; she quickly got to her feet and looked at the healer with a judgmental "Really?"

"It was the first thing that came to mind," Gold defended, turning back to the crawler. Yew's four-pronged claws had been traded out for two-pronged sets, which were firing off her gauntlets like crossbow bolts; Dead had her sickle hooked on her back and was throwing what looked like spiked rings that shattered when they collided with the crawler. Mary went for broke and hurled her shield at the crystals on its back, and Gold resigned herself to healing until the crawler began to fall apart.

FINAL ROUND was proclaimed above them, and three humanoid figures stepped out of the cage - one flickering with fire, one misting with ice, and one sparking with electricity. Mary left her shields where they had fallen, and in her hand appeared a long spear that seemed to be made of crystal, its head forked into two sinister twisted blades. Gold finished healing Rock and let her can fade before drawing her knife and raising her sword; Rock drew her throwing edge and readied her revolver; Dead drew her sickle again, and Yew switched back to her four-pronged melee claws.

The flaming one moved first, vanishing from the trio and appearing in front of Rock; she quickly lashed her edge skyward, slamming into its head as she stepped back with a spin. The icy one made to charge Dead; Rock bashed the flaming one with her revolver and fired a blast that struck the icy one in the side, giving Dead an opening to slash at it. The volted one rushed Yew, but only ended up with her claws in its arms, giving it plenty of opening for Mary to drive her spear into its back; Gold quickly rushed forward to aid Dead, and Rock fired another shot at the icy one before turning her attention back to the flaming one.

It made to punch at Rock, finding its blows met with her orange edge; her revolver was holstered in her belt, and a blue throwing blade appeared in her grip as she leapt back to throw it at her attacker. The blade connected before she landed, and once she had, her opponent vanished again, reappearing at point blank. This time it managed to strike her before she could strike it, causing her to stumble back; she hurled another blade at it, and then another as she stepped back, only for it to advance on her as she moved.

She hurled her throwing blade across its side before kicking it in the stomach; this gave her enough of an opening to fire at the icy one with her revolver again, and when the flaming one reappeared at point-blank it ended up being in the path of the returning edge. Rock caught it and slashed across its face, launching another blast of flame at its chest in the process; the HP it lost from the blow told her that the flame effect of her weapon was only aesthetic, but a firearm at point-blank range is still not ideal. The flaming one managed to strike the weapon from her hand, and then her throwing edge; she generated a pink orb and leapt away, throwing while she was in the air, but she landed before it could connect, and the flaming one reappeared before her, leaving the un-detonated orb to roll in the direction of the electrical one.

A purple cylinder appeared in her grip, and she slammed it to the ground at her feet, causing the haze to wrap her and her opponent. To her dismay, the friendly-fire that had hurt her friends also ended up hurting  _her_ , and she quickly leapt out of the smoke... and found her back against the wall as her opponent appeared in front of her. It drew back its hand and made to punch her...

And two crystal blades ripped through its head.

Rock went still as the flaming one started to writhe; something slashed across its back, and its body started to turn transparent... but it flames didn't. Dead and Mary were standing behind it, and Rock quickly stepped to the side in case Mary should have her weight forward as the opponent shattered, leaving its flames lingering in the air for a moment before they flickered out.

Dead gave an impressed gasp. "That looked so cool."

"Huh?"

Mary traced a circle around her eye. "The flames around your face."

Rock got an inquisitive look on her face. "Could I..."

A crimson flame manifested around her left eye, and Dead smiled. "That's awesome."

"I don't like the red, though," Rock muttered. "Maybe..."

The flame turned pale blue.

"That's more like it."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, they should release -The Little Bird of Many, Many Colours- as a published book. But I guess that would only appeal to a small portion of B★RS fans, so it's gonna sell like buns.  
> (shameless Shantae reference for the win)


	7. Victims

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the part where you start hating me.

"So cold!"

It was a month and a half into the  _Otherworld_ beta test; Mato and Yuu had not ignored the basketball club upon its recontinuation, resulting in a slightly altered schedule, and Kohacchi had been eager to hear about the developments from them and Saya. Today, however, was the first snowfall of the year, and Arata was concerned about them as they departed. "You're not seriously gonna walk all the way to Shattered Star in this weather, are you?"

"You got another idea?" Saya's comment from behind drew Arata's attention as she stepped out with a bag over her shoulder.

She, Mato, and Yuu started towards the road, with Arata following behind indignantly. "You're gonna freeze!" she protested. "And if you don't freeze, your NervGears are gonna die!"

Yuu scoffed. "You think they'd have us do multi-hour shifts in that environment and not provide power?" she inquired. "We keep them plugged in while we're working, apparently  _Otherworld_ is kind of hard on your battery.

Arata - who had a bad habit of unplugging her NervGear's charging cord while she was playing - shook her head. "You still shouldn't be..."

A car pulled up and came to a stop before them, and a window rolled down to reveal Yomi and Kagari inside. "You need a ride?" Yomi offered.

"You guys have perfect timing!" Mato praised.

Arata sighed in relief. "You must be Dead and Mary," she observed.

Kagari glared at her. "Go away."

Yomi turned. "Kagari-"

"I know that." Arata's accusation drew everyone's attention. "You play  _War of the Gods_."

"I  **used** to," Kagari corrected indignantly. "That game sucks after _Otherworld_."

"From what I've heard," Arata admitted, beckoning to Mato, "I'm not surprised."

Mato sighed. "We should really get going," she interrupted. "See you tomorrow!" Yomi opened the door, and she and Kagari moved aside to make room; Arata waved them off as the car pulled away, and then started on her way home.

* * *

Black was waiting for the players when they arrived; the beta room was pleasantly warm when they stepped in (or rolled in, in Kagari's case), prompting Yuu to give a sigh of relief. "Toasty."

"Yes, I thought you might be a little chilly today," Black admitted. "We're gonna do something a little different today."

"You're telling us up front," Saya observed, "this is unusual."

"You're more inspired when I don't warn you," Black teased, "but we can't afford that today. In _Otherworld_ , weapons and ability generation is meant to be available anywhere, but we also want to include the same freedom of customization as far as decor goes. Anybody got a character home in their game?"

Mato, Yuu, Saya, and Yomi all raised their hands. Kagari shook her head. "Not since we started."

Black was surprised at that. "No?"

" _Hanafuda House_ doesn't give you a character home," Kagari elaborated, "and I don't play  _War of the Gods_ anymore."

"...Anyways," Black elaborated, "we're going to start in an open area. I want to see how the game handles multiple players trying to change the environment at once. After we've done a few tests there, I'll relocate each of you to a separate region, and you'll be free to change it yourself."

"Why is this something you can't tell us on the fly?" Yuu asked.

"Because in order to give you free reign," Black explained, "we start off in nothing. No form, no surfaces to walk on. You're not even going to be able to see one another. I want to make sure we're all logging in at the same time. I'm going to give it base form, then you all can start changing things."

Mato nodded. "Sounds good."

The players made their way to the tester beds, getting ready. Black made her way to the desk, picking up her NervGear, and once she was comfortable, she called out, "Ready?"

Everyone replied, "Ready!"

Black nodded with a smile. "Three, two, one..."

"Link start!"

* * *

"Stupid dev team..."

Arata was rather irritated as she made her way out to her living room. An  **intended** gaming session in  _Pacifist Nation_ had been cut very short by the announcement of an unscheduled update, and attempts to coordinate with her friends to meet up in a different game had been ruined by everyone else having different intentions. With a groan she made her way to a bookshelf and ran her fingers over the spines, uncertain what she was in the mood for - and her phone abruptly went off. A glance at the screen revealed it was a member of the basketball club; not certain why anyone from school would be calling her at this hour, she tapped  _Answer_ and raised the phone to her ear. "Arata."

_"Kohacchi, turn on the TV!"_

The panicked tone concerned her, and she turned towards the living room table. "What's this-"

_"It's Mato!"_

That got her moving; Arata quickly dashed forward, seizing the remote and turning on the TV. It was a news feed with URGENT BROADCAST crossing banners at the top and bottom of the screen, and the overlaid display beside the newscaster showed a building in what looked like the aftermath of a **bomb blast**.

"...to break in to headquarters of VRMMO developer Shattered Star. River's allies have reported that they were attempting to seize the personal data of the players of Shattered Star's games. In the struggle, River's weapon triggered a gas explosion, injuring twenty-three and killing thirteen more. Among those found dead are concept developer Jonzen Black, as well as the five players she had enlisted for the beta test of the upcoming game  _Otherworld._ "

Five faces were shown in the overlay beside her - all of whom Arata had seen that day.

"Kagari Izuriha, Saya Irino, Yuu Koutari, Yomi Takanashi, and Mato Kuroi."

* * *

_In the aftermath of the incident, Shattered Star announced the cancellation of Otherworld._

_"Otherworld was to be Jonzen's magnum opus," explains Viola Grey, one of the few programmers enlisted to help with the game. "She insisted on handling the engine herself. Our task was exclusively the maintenance and observation of the servers. With her gone, we have no way to continue with the game's creation."_

_However, the company has no intention of letting Black's work - nor that of the beta testers - go to waste._

_"Jonzen was methodical," Grey continued. "Everything the players created was saved on the servers, which were spared damage from the explosion. We will be using every byte of this data that we can in the creation of a new VRMMORPG, and we will be including a dedication to the players. They have done too much to let them be forgotten."_

_Grey further explains that, due to Otherworld's intentions, much of the groundwork for a new game is already set._

_"Otherworld's core concept was customizability, but it was largely customization of the player's avatar," Grey discloses. "Jonzen had already set the foundation for a game world and created enemies, and the way the customization works means that the players have generated plenty of equipment for us to make use of. I predict we can have a conclusive game within five years."_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter than I meant it to be, and ended on a kind of awkward note, but I really can't drag it out much longer than this.


	8. Launch Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have no real notion for the development cycle of a game that does not go through hell or how it would be affected by making use of existing assets.
> 
> Further disclaimer: the B★RS wikia is respectable about its spoilers and has images at the top of every page. I still have not played B★RS The Game, but I hope to be able to show the characters appropriately.  
> [EDITED: my earlier description of Nana was based on entirely the wrong image. The current description should be accurate to my abilities]

_Two years later..._

It is a widespread stereotype that those who enjoy video games are physically lacking - and it has been since long before the advent of full-dive technology. A young man, sitting behind a counter at a games store, was the only employee who had decided to come to his shift in the midst of a heavy snowfall; for today was the launch day of a highly anticipated new title, and he was of the mind that anyone who believed in that stereotype had never seen the meeting of a gamer and a limited supply.

Someone burst through the door, ringing the bell hanging there; a girl wrapped in several layers that made it very hard to tell she was female. Her footwear was not ideal for the weather - a pair of running shoes that squeaked as she walked - but his preference for wearing fuzzy slip-ons year round meant he was in no position to judge as she dashed up to the counter and demanded, "Do you still have _OtherSelf Online_?"

The man behind the counter reached down and drew out a case, popping it open to make sure he hadn't grabbed the empty display case. "Four left," he confirmed - having began the day with a hundred, fifty minutes ago. "Lucky girl."

* * *

Arata got home before 9:00 had hit, shaking off snow as she did. Her mom was out of the house today, leaving nobody to hear her announcement of "I'm home" as she took off her jacket and hung it up. The game might already be on sale, but the servers would be active until 11:00, leaving her a little over two hours to kill in anticipation.

She glanced down at the case in her hands. The front had a picture of a girl in a black longcoat, undone to reveal only a black bra and a pair of short shorts. Her feet were just out of sight behind the title, but she was wearing high black boots that almost reached up to her knees; her hands bore long gloves that almost crested her elbows, and one was closed on a long black sword. The girl's black hair was done in uneven twintails, and one of her blue eyes was obscured by a pale blue flame that danced about her face. The back cover had a map of the in-game world - named 'Otherworld' after the old project - over which was set the game's blurb; the same map was also in a small pamphlet inside the case, with more technical detail.

Those two hours were more a blessing than a curse, for a full-dive gamer needs to make preparations before an extended session. Temperature; the NervGear would leave her body still for an extended period, which meant she needed to make sure the house was warm. Cleanliness; her mother would kill her if she got back and the house was in a disaster while Arata was diving. A meal, as close to the dive as she could get it; eating something in-game could make you  _feel_ full, but nobody wanted to come out of a dive with an empty stomach.

Once she'd eaten, Arata got comfortable; then she loaded the game in, plugged in her NervGear, and powered it on.

10:59  
10 59  
10:59  
10 59  
11:00

"Link start!"

* * *

**Touch - OK**  
**Sight - OK**

 **Hearing - OK**  
**Taste - OK**  
**Smell - OK**

 **Login_::**  
account:  
[******]  
password:  
[********]

 _In memory of_  
_Mato Kuroi_  
_Yomi Takanashi_  
_Yuu Koutari_  
_Saya Irino_  
_Kagari Izuriha_

_=Welcome to=  
OtherSelf Online_

Stella opened her eyes.

The first thing a player does when they log into a new VRMMO is create their avatar.  _OtherSelf Online_ placed the character creation in a gold grid upon black, forming a circular surface and then walls extending heavenward. She glanced down at herself; Arata's figure was wrapped in a pair of black leggings and a black tank top, and in the top corner, the name  _Stella_ sat beside an HP bar in an unusual black. Something appeared before her; she anticipated  _Shattered Star'_ s usual character creation menus - if a bit more elaborate, given the high customization the game had advertised - but was somewhat concerned when a dialogue box appeared before her.

 _Avatar customization delayed to compensate for launch traffic_  
_Once customization has been made available, find under User Settings  
Sorry about that :(_

Stella scoffed. "Small price to pay."

She tapped the 'close' button, and a light wrapped her body; when it faded, she was wearing a black cloak that obscured her body entirely, with a hood over her head. A sword appeared before her - jet-black with a single-edged blade, the sharpened edge pale silver - and when she reached forward and seized it in her left hand, a ring appeared at her hip on her right side. She quickly slipped the blade into it, and once the hilt connected with the ring, the world around her was wrapped in light.

When it faded, Stella was standing in an open town square; in several more flashes, many other players were appearing around her.

At the start of OtherSelfOnline.

* * *

"I wouldn't waste my time with any of that if I were you."

The voice over her shoulder caused Stella to turn away from the menu before her - the shop selection for an NPC weapons store. A girl was standing there, with teal hair and pale green eyes; she had been eyeing the menu judgementally, but at Stella's reaction turned to face her as she asked, "What do you mean?"

"Everything on there has pathetically low stats," the girl explained. "It's not worth your Ai."

"A level-one player in the first town in the game doesn't exactly have room to be picky, does she?" Stella argued.

The teal-haired girl shook her head. "I think you'll find you do," she argued, reaching for her side and partially drawing the starting sword - named in her inventory as the Black Blade. "You didn't sell yours yet, did you?"

Stella shook her head. "They've got it in the shop here, I figured it couldn't be worse than anything else on the selection."

"It _is_ \- at first," the girl explained. "But its stats get better the higher your level. And the shop knows that - you can only have one, but it costs more if you try and buy one back at a later level. You're better off just sticking with this unless you want a firearm; the monsters outside drop better gear in most of the other categories."

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," Stella accused with a smirk, "for a player on her first day." She made a circular motion with her finger in the girl's direction. "And avatar customization is delayed for launch... for new players."

The girl reached for her hair. "This is me IRL," she defended; a closer look revealed her eyebrows were a dark silver. "They're not letting us apply our settings from the beta test until the launch traffic settles."

Stella chuckled, turning back to the NPC's shop menu and swiping down to the firearms section. "Well, at least you're not hiding it," she praised, tapping a pistol and causing a confirmation prompt to come up. She tapped _Confirm_ , and the weapon appeared in her hand - simple and steely grey - while the holster manifested on her belt near her blade. She drove the gun in and turned, offering her other hand. "I'm Stella."

"Nana," the girl greeted, taking the hand and shaking it. "Don't suppose you'd be willing to party with me?"

"I was gonna ask the same thing of you," Stella admitted. "What's a beta tester doing looking for a newbie?"

"Point A, only three hundred of the beta testers actually accepted the offer for copies on launch," Nana explained. "Point B, most of the other beta testers are  _jackasses_ , and I know for a fact that the only ones I was friends with were in the other seven hundred."

Stella blinked. "Why would the other beta testers not accept the offer?"

Nana shrugged. "Hardcore sorts," she explained. "Muscle memory types. Ever played offline games? If you start a new save file right after you kick the final boss, you keep thinking you can deal more damage than you really can. We got to, like, level 40 during the beta."

"Okay, that makes sense," Stella agreed. "Sure, I'll party with you."

* * *

The cloak that players came equipped with, the Other Cloak, wasn't in the armour slot, but a separate 'garb' slot - its effect was purely aesthetic, and this one couldn't be sold. The default attire - the black leggings-and-tank from the initial login screen - wasn't even armour so much as just placeholder clothing; as such, Stella and Nana stopped by an armour shop before making their way out of town. Nana explained that this town - the Town of Endings - rested on the border between the southernmost region, the Plain of Suffering, and the center region, the Field of White. Further, the default spawn point, the Plaza of Beginnings, was deceptively closer to the Field, where the strongest monsters in the game resided, than it was to the Plain; Stella was not surprised to hear that several players had already charged the Field, and wisely decided to follow Nana out to the plain.

Nana, not being a firearm sort, was satisfied with just using her Black Blade until an enemy dropped something; Stella had decided to forgo her Other Cloak, and was thus displaying her dull leather armour as they left the town. To Stella's surprise, a dialogue box appeared before her as she cross the point where pavement became grass.

 _=Plain of Suffering=_  
_Enemies in OtherSelf Online are scaled to each player's level. Unless you are around a player of significantly higher level, the enemies you encounter will have stats easily manageable at your level. That being said, the further you get from the Town of Endings, the more diverse the enemy's fighting patterns._  
_Here in the Plain of Suffering, your enemies will be of the animalistic variety._

"So when you said 'hardest enemies', you meant hard-to-read?" Stella inquired.

"Not really," Nana explained. "You get that blurb wherever you go first, but then the Field tells you that it's the exception."

They both closed the dialogue box; a few steps later, they found themselves approached by what looked like a boar. Stella drew her pistol first, firing at it as it approached; the boar's HP bar in black took a few small bits off as it charged her, and she and Nana quickly drew their Black Blades. Stella landed a horizontal swing, causing it to veer towards Nana; the beta tester quickly slammed her blade down between its tusks, causing it to turn tail and charge away for a bit. A few shots from Stella's gun hit it in the backside as it put some distance between them, causing its HP to lighten as they knocked it to halfway down; then it turned back and charged them again.

Nana leapt in the way, bracing the flat of her blade against her empty hand; the boar's tusks slammed against the edge, causing it to lose some HP damage, and it started to struggle against the lock. Stella started dashing around it, firing as fast as her gun would let her - a semi-automatic gun shooting as fast as her trigger finger could move - and once she was perpendicular to it she charged forward and slashed at the boar from the side. This knocked its HP to another lighter hue, becoming almost white; then Nana lifted her blade out of the lock and slammed a sideways blow that turned it back towards Stella, prompting her to thrust her blade at it between the tusks.

The beast went still, turned transparent, shimmered for a moment, and then shattered, and a win screen popped up before each of them.

"You're pretty good," Nana praised, tapping the dismiss button. "What games did you come from?"

" _Pacifist Nation_ and  _Shadow Hunter_  are my most recent," Stella replied, tapping the same around her sword as she holstered her pistol. "And  _Hanafuda House_ , but I don't think that's what you meant."

"I didn't think they had firearms in  _Shadow Hunter,_ " Nana admitted.

"They didn't," Stella confirmed, "but I'm pretty sure they used gun mechanics for the crossbows."

Nana rolled her eyes. "Lazy."

* * *

The two players spent the day in the Plain of Suffering, fighting boars, deer, and the occasional wolf. The sun was on its way down when they decided to call a break, seating themselves on a high hill; they'd levelled up once during the fights, and a glance at her stats told Stella they were on the verge of Lv 3. "So," she inquired, "anything in the way of a grand quest in this game?"

"Kind of, I suppose," Nana admitted. "Didn't you read the blurb on the box?"

Stella scratched the back of her head. "I... mainly got this game because my friends worked on it."

Nana was quiet for a moment at that; then she sighed, turning back to the sunset. "Anyways, the quest. Yeah. This realm, the Otherworld, is supposed to be ruled by five 'goddesses'. She pointed in the direction of the Field of White. "There's an auditorium kinda thing in the middle of the world with five torches around it - blue, green, red, orange, yellow. Each one represents a goddess. If you defeat one of the goddesses, they drop their weapon and armour, and their torch goes out. The goal is to put out all five torches."

"What's the catch?" Stella inquired.

"Why does there have to be a catch?" Nana argued.

"Then it really is that easy?"

"Well, I didn't say that."

Stella mock-pouted, and Nana laughed. "The goddesses aren't just sitting around in temples in the Otherworld. They're in isolated domains, only accessible from portals somewhere in the world." She shook her head. "Six months in the beta test, and we never found any of them.

"Sounds like they're making it tricky," Stella mused, glancing up - and seeing the time in the corner of her vision, _05:00_. "Jeez, is it that late already?"

Nana's eyes flickered up as she checked the time on her own HUD. "Oh, you're right. Time flies."

Stella got to her feet, prompting Nana to do the same. "Can we log out from here," Stella asked, "or do we need to be in a town?"

"You can go from here," Nana assured her. "Somewhere you need to be?"

Stella scoffed. "Maybe at the door when delivery gets here," she argued, tapping back to her main menu selection. "Catch you tomor... huh?"

Nana stepped forward. "Something wrong?"

"Where's the logout button?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might not know what road I'm going down, but I bet you can figure out my general direction.


	9. Black and Whites

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's an officially-published 'interview with the characters' thing for SAO where fans submitted questions that Kirito, Asuna, Yui, and Kayaba answered. One of Kayaba's questions proclaims that he had written a script for the final Heathcliff fight on floor 100, which implies that he had also written a script for the big announcement of the death game on floor 1.
> 
> I invite you to imagine how different that event would have been if he HADN'T.

Stella  
Armour: Leather Plate  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Single Shot  
Garb: None

Nana  
Armour: Leather Plate  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: None  
Garb: Other Cloak

"Where's the logout button?"

Nana stepped forward. "What are you talking about?"

"It's not here," Stella insisted.

"I think you're looking in the wrong place," Nana insisted, swiping her hand down to open her menu. "It's under  _User Settings_ , if you just..." She fell quiet after tapping the button. "What the hell?"

"Is it some kind of glitch?" Stella inquired.

"Hell of a glitch if it is," Nana murmured. "It's not just missing; there's no sign it's even supposed to be there." She tapped a different item on the menu, causing a dialogue box to pop up. "And the avatar customization still isn't up. There's only ten thousand copies for the first run, everyone should have logged in by now."

She swung her hand up to dismiss her menu as Stella shook her head. "Something's up," she muttered. "Why would a game this focused be suffering glitches this big? Shattered Star doesn't rush things like that."

Nana opened her mouth to comment - and was interrupted when the world around her was wrapped in light.

* * *

When she could see again, Stella was concerned to find herself and Nana seated in the bleachers of a round pit, with a circular stage in the center, rapidly joined by more and more players. Five torches were positioned around the edges of that pit, and each was lit with a flame of a different colour - blue, green, red, orange, yellow. "Is this...?"

"The auditorium," Nana confirmed. "I didn't think it was for in-game events. Huh?"

Stella followed her gaze to the stage in the middle; a dark, purplish pit had appeared, and from it emerged someone - a woman. She wasn't wearing an Other Cloak - rather, her body was garbed in a black dress of mourning, and silver hair danced around her shoulders. She made a movement, and a menu appeared before her... and to either side of her appeared a large panel, at the same moment.

A voice echoed from the stage... but Stella couldn't make it out. No sooner had she started to move than a dialogue box appeared before her, with Yes/No prompt buttons:  _Can you hear me clearly?_ Identical boxes had appeared before every player, and she quickly tapped No, causing the box to fade out.

The voice emerged again - a sharp, brief sound that seemed to indicate that the speaker had cursed. One hand went to the panel at her left side for a moment, and then she spoke again, much louder; "Can everybody hear me?" The same dialogue box appeared again as several players in the front row reeled back; Stella tapped Yes, but this time the speaker  **audibly** cursed. 

A brief pause; then her hand did on the panel on her right before she spoke again. "Can everybody hear me now?"

This time nobody reacted, and Stella tapped Yes again.

"Okay, there we go." The woman cleared her throat. "Sorry for the sudden transport, but this game has a very slow level system and I can't just ask everyone to cross the Field of White at less than Level 5. Let me introduce myself. I'm Black."

The quiet murmurings of the crowd died off abruptly.

The very pale-skinned speaker waved her hands before her rapidly. "No no no, sorry! I mean, my  _username_ is Black! Not- Oh, jeez, that sounded bad." When nobody retaliated, she lowered her hands. "My username is Black. I'm the game master of _OtherSelf Online_." She began to turn as she spoke, gradually facing everyone in the crowd around the stage. "I'm sure some of you have noticed by now that certain things in this game aren't quite sitting they way you think they should. Avatar customizations are still locked. The logout option isn't present on your menu. Defeated players haven't respawned after the time they should have. Some players have been abruptly defeated without any warning whatsoever."

Somebody in the front row added their own two cents; "The Black Blade's not getting stronger the way it should!"

"Huh?" The speaker seemed surprised at that, turning to face the one who had interrupted her. "What do you..." She swung her hand down, opening her multi-layered GM menu again, and then grasped the panel on her right, causing the entire menu to rotate around her. After a few taps on the panel, she muttered "Who disabled that flag?" before tapping something. "Sorry about that!" she called. "For those of you who weren't in the beta test, he's right. The default Black Blade gets stronger as you level up. For some reason, the stat growth was disabled.

" **That**  wasn't supposed to happen."

Everyone in the crowd reacted at that.

"Oh, you _get_ it," the speaker taunted, resuming her gradual turns. "The other three I listed  **are** supposed to happen. They're not _glitches_ , they're not _oversights_. They're  **features** of  _OtherSelf Online_. You can't customize your avatar, because it's not good for your mental state to be in a body that's different from your own. You can't log out, because I'm expecting you to get through this entire game in one go. The defeated players haven't respawned... because they  _don't exist_ anymore.

"Here, or in the real world."

She rotated her menu around her again and tapped something else, causing a massive image to appear above her - it was a news broadcast.

_"...reported that several players of OtherSelf Online have died of intensive brain damage. Attempts to remove the NervGear equipment of remaining players have caused the devices to overheat, killing the users in the same manner. Friends and family of players of OtherSelf Online are strongly urged to leave the players as-is, and call for medical assistance.  
"Shattered Star has publicly stated that this goes entirely against the intentions of OtherSelf Online. A small splinter faction has been discovered within the development team, each member identifying only as 'White'; they have confessed to being responsible for this event. It is the hope of..."_

The broadcast faded, and the woman on the stage spoke up again. "There you have it," she announced. "If your HP is decreased to zero, your avatar dies, and a grave marker is set in its place - just as happened in the beta test. Your friends will have thirteen minutes to use a revival item on you, just as happened in the beta test. But unlike the beta test, if those thirteen minutes are allowed to pass, your NervGear will run a high-density scan on your brain, and kill you in a matter of seconds. And the same scan happened to any players whose family or friends were stupid enough to try and take it off."

She swept her hand up, dismissing the menu. "Those Whites, they're friends of mine. They helped me take  _OtherSelf Online_ , and make it something. They helped me turn it into a game worth winning - yes, players," she added, "I  **am** going to give you the chance to win! But you're going to have to earn it."

She snapped her fingers.

A sound ripped out from around the auditorium like flamethrowers being fired; the coloured flames of the torches were blazing high into the air. The flames swirled above the auditorium, forming swirling vortices, and in each vortex appeared a shape in white.

"Blue!" A five-pointed star.

"Green!" A cracked skull.

"Red!" A horned helmet.

"Orange!" A squared fist.

"Yellow!" A spiked disk.

The vortices vanished, and the woman threw her arms out. "The five goddesses of Otherworld! Defeat each, and her flame will be extinguished! And once all five flames have been extinguished, this auditorium will become the access to another world. Your 'real' world, if you must call it that. Pass through it, and you will be freed of your NervGear."

Her other hand was raised above her head.

"But for now, players, we play for keeps!"

She snapped her fingers, and her body vanished in a white flame.

Silence permeated the auditorium for a long moment... and then the flame reappeared, and the woman was standing there again looking awkward. "Um... Try to leave the auditorium, and you'll be teleported back to wherever I warped you in from. I'm not gonna make you go through the Field."

This time, when she faded away, the silence didn't linger; somebody  **screamed** , and the entire crowd blew like a powder keg. Stella was about to charge forward when a hand caught hers, and she turned to find Nana looking at her meaningfully as she yelled, "We've gotta go!"

Stella decided not to argue, following her out of the crowd - and as soon as they were past the bounds of the auditorium, the world vanished around them.

* * *

"This is not happening. It  _can't_ be happening. It  _can't_."

Nana was panicking as she and Stella lingered in the Plain of Suffering. "This is... this makes way more sense than it should," Stella muttered.

"What?"

" _OSO_ has been the most anticipated game for two years," Stella recalled. "Ever since the incident that shut down _Otherworld_. If the NervGear has been capable of something like this since it first came out, all they had to do was wait for a game anticipated enough to sell out at launch."

"It couldn't be," Nana insisted. "No security company in its right mind would let the NervGear ever leave the concept stage if it could do something like this."

Stella turned to her. "It's not  _supposed_ to do something like this," she reminded her. "That report said the NervGears had overheated when people tried to remove them. It can't run an operation strong enough to kill someone without destroying itself. No device is  _ever_ meant to push itself that hard. All it would take is... is someone slipping a command into  _OSO_ 's code."

"How would they even know how to parse that input?" Nana argued. "In order to slip it past the safeties, They'd need the exact specs of-"

She cut herself off, and Stella turned to her. "What?"

"Shattered Star," Nana realized. "Stella, those Whites were programmers for Shattered Star. The company developed launch titles for the NervGear! That's how they got the specs! They haven't just been waiting for an opportunity, they've been undermining the company! Shit, what are we gonna do?"

"...We survive."

Stella's muttering drew Nana's attention. "They want this game to kill us," she insisted. "We can't let it. She said the game can be won. We - all of us players - we  _have_ to win."

She seized Nana's hand.

"We have to survive in this world!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're on the approach to Christmas, what's a girl gotta to do to get her sleeping habits in order?


	10. Survivalist Jungle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aincrad is HUGE. I'm not even going to pretend I can compare to what's even on the few floors they show us, let alone to the entire game world.

_30 Days Since Launch_

Stella  
Armour: Howling Furs  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Single Shot  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Leather Plate  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Edge of Bone  
Garb: Other Cloak

"Dammit- Agh!"

The jungle region to the east of the Plain of Suffering was filled with traditionally monstrous sorts of enemies, such as goblins, orcs, and slime creatures. One particular player was having some trouble in here; a horde of goblins had jumped him, and though he had taken out all but one, that one had managed to knock him into a quicksand pit. Fortunately,  _OtherSelf Online_ portrayed quicksand rather realistically - as long as he didn't move, it wouldn't try to draw him in - but the angle at which he landed meant that he was in no position to strike at the enemy, and the enemy was in  _perfect_ position to try and strike at him... in a rather painful place.

It raised its orb-like fist... and a gunshot ripped through the jungle. A spark of red HP damage manifested on its hand, and the goblin whirled around to find a brunette player in an Other Cloak standing there; a pistol was in her hand, and a Black Blade sheathed at her hip. She started advancing forward, firing rapidly to whittle down its HP, and with an angry screech the goblin started to charge towards her. The gunner stopped firing as someone else rushed in from the side, also wearing an Other Cloak - she had a Black Blade in her right hand and what looked like a  _stag's antler_ in her left braced like a tonfa - and quickly met its blows on her own, knocking its HP into the pale zone as she forced it to the edge of the pit.

The gunner stepped around the deadlock, turning to the player in the sand. "Hey."

"H-Hey," the boy muttered.

She raised her pistol. "Want the killing blow?"

"Sure."

She tossed him the gun, which he caught and aimed at the goblin's back. Carefully, so that he didn't end up hitting the antler-wielder, he fired one, two, three - as soon as its HP went out, the monster went still, and the locked player pulled back as it faded out, shimmered, and shattered. With a sigh, she sheathed her Black Blade at her hip, and turned the antler around to hook it on her back; the win screens appeared and were quickly dismissed. "I'm Nana. This is Stella."

"Ron," the boy reciprocated. He was dressed in a high-collared black longcoat over dark slacks, with white lines down the chest and around the collar; a cap that looked like a mess of spikes his most of his hair, but his eyebrows and a stray lock revealed its dark brown colour. He quickly tossed Stella her gun back; she holstered it and drew her Black Blade, then seized it by the blade and offered the handle to Ron. Once he grasped it, she and Nana managed to pull him out, revealing the combat boots of his ensemble.

"You been to the town in here?" Stella asked as she re-sheathed her blade.

Ron nodded. "Yeah," he confirmed. "The Enduring Shelter. The equipment's a hell of a boost compared to the selection in the Town of Endings." He tugged at his collar meaningfully.

"Props for that," Nana praised. "It's been a month since launch, and I think you're the first person to try leaving the Plain of Suffering."

"First to survive the attempt, maybe," Ron muttered.

Nana and Stella exchanged glances. Any other game, a player could risk a venture into a higher-difficulty zone, chancing the greater rewards - but that was never a wise move when your real life was on the line. "We've made a few dips in here to sample the monsters," Nana admitted, "but we never went much further than the first safe zone. Mind showing us the way?"

"I'd love to," Ron agreed.

Stella opened her menu, tapping her way to the party invite; a dialogue prompt appeared in front of Ron, who tapped _Confirm_ to add his HP bar under hers and Nana's.

* * *

A few encounters later, they arrived at the Enduring Shelter, a multi-layered community with buildings at levels above each other. The entire shelter was raised off the ground, although Ron explained that the safe zone extended to the jungle floor; once they were there, Nana took an unexpected lead, prompting Stella and a confused Ron to follow her. Eventually, she arrived at a small, dark grey orb at the highest level, and as Stella watched she reached her finger towards it, causing a prompt button to appear beneath it - and the orb turned white for a brief moment.

"There we go," Nana mused.

"What's this?" Stella inquired.

Nana turned. "It's a warp orb," she explained. "Every community in the game has one. All players have the one in the Town of Endings activated by default, but you have to visit the others manually. Once it's activated, you and anyone on your friends list can teleport between them easily."

Ron blinked. "How the hell do you know that?" he asked. "That wasn't on the box."

"She was in the beta test," Stella explained.

"Wha...?" Ron glanced back and then turned on Nana again. "If you were in the beta test, why did you need me to show you the way here?"

"Because they  _moved_ everything in here," Nana insisted. "The temp safe zones are all in different places, and this whole town is like ten minutes further from the Field. I couldn't risk trying to get here at our level if I wasn't a hundred percent sure I knew where it was."

"Even the beta testers are in for hell with this, huh?" Ron muttered. "Doesn't that figure."

Stella shook her head. "It totally figures," she muttered. "The beta testers were supposed to get their avatar customizations carried over, but that would have been a dead giveaway with this whole 'you look like the real world' setup. They get to blend in with the other players, and in exchange, the bonuses they get from having played some of the game already are next to nothing."

Ron sighed, tapping the warp orb for himself. "At least you're not hoarding the information you  _do_ get," he observed.

"What would that achieve?" Nana argued. "We're all in the same boat here. Once all the goddesses are down,  **everybody** gets their life back. It's not like they're going to reward us IRL for doing the survival bit."

"You've got a point."

Stella activated the warp orb herself, then she turned to them. "Either of you want to show me where the gear shops are?"

* * *

"Drops like that in the Plain? I didn't stick around long enough."

A wolf encounter had earned Stella a set of armour with higher stats than the Shelter could offer - which was  _annoyingly_  fuzzy, and the main reason she was wearing her Other Cloak. "Monster-dropped stuff is usually better than shop buys," she argued against Ron's comment.

"And you stuck around plenty," argued Nana, who had bought a set like Ron's. "She got that thing yesterday."

"Were you going out of your way to get it?" Ron argued.

"We were out of our way to get  _something_ ," Nana insisted, tapping the deer-antler tonfa on her back. "This one came off a stag the encounter before."

They made their way into the weapons shop, and Stella quickly opened the selection - finding something interesting in short order. "What's this? They didn't have these categories in the Town of Endings."

Ron stepped forward. "The 'projectile' and 'expendable' categories, you mean?" he asked.

"I didn't pay attention to those," Nana admitted, "what's that about?"

"Well, you've got your _throwing_ weapons like boomerangs and chakrams, those come back to you," Ron explained. "And then  _ranged_  weapons, which  **someone** decided didn't need a constant ammo supply."

His tone implied he had distaste for whichever dev had decided that. Stella - who had heard too many stories about the low ammo capacities of  _Inferno_ 's guns - glared sideways at him.

"And then you have  _projectile_ weapons," Ron explained. "Kunai, shuriken, blade discs, things like that. Those don't come back to you, but they stick in your opponent. When the opponent goes down, then they drop and you can pick them up again. If the encounter ends, then they auto-return to your inventory. And if you get more than one of the same type, and equip one to a weapons slot, then the next one will reappear in your hand after you throw the first."

"Somebody wants to be a ninja," Stella observed, scrolling down to the firearms selection.

Ron chuckled. "Maybe just a little bit."

Nana turned to him. "And the 'expendable'?" she asked.

"That's single-use items," Ron explained. "Grenades, land mines, smoke bombs, that kind of stuff. It still counts as weapons, so it ends up with those in your inventory instead of in the zone of your potions and effect crystals. That being said, you can't equip those ones to a weapon slot."

Stella tapped a confirmation, causing a new pistol to appear in her hand - this one with a black barrel affixed to a steel-grey handle. "You use those ones much?" she asked, opening her inventory.

"Not much," he admitted. "I've got a boomerang and a pack of twenty kunai."

"Tell me you've at least still got your Black Blade," Nana muttered.

"Only because I'm a hoarder," Ron mused. "I haven't sold _anything_ because I'm worried that it can be used for something like crafting. The only Ai I've got is monster rewards."

Nana shook her head. " _OSO_ doesn't have a crafting system," she admitted, opening her inventory. "Weapons, healing items, effect crystals, and sellable items - those are the icons." She tapped something to highlight it and swept her finger to rotate her menu so Ron could see it. "If it's labelled like that, sell it to an NPC and forget about it."

Ron nodded. "That sounds like an excellent idea."

Stella sold off her Single Shot and a few other drops before closing the NPC's menu; then she let Ron do his selling. "So, what's the game plan?" she asked Nana. "Do we continue through the Jungle and see what we find on the other end?"

"I wouldn't," Nana admitted. "The game's designed so the enemy patterns get harder the further you are from the Town of Endings. Once we've done a bit of searching around here, gotten some drops, then we should warp back there and hit up the Forest."

Once Ron had made his fortune in Ai and picked up a few more kunai, the three of them stepped out of the shop. A monstrous growl from below drew their attention; they glanced down to find a horde of pig-faced orcs advancing around the safe zone. "What's got their attention?" Stella muttered.

"Monsters get lured when a trap is activated, right?" Ron mused. "If they're all going somewhere, then something must have been tripped."

"...Can other monsters trigger the traps?" Stella asked.

"Not that I know of," Nana admitted.

They exchanged glances; then Stella leapt down to the jungle floor, and Nana and Ron leapt after her as she charged after the orcs.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the area-entry blurb I couldn't fit into the chapter.
> 
> =Survivalist Jungle=  
> Traps are everywhere in this jungle. If one is triggered, monsters will come running unless a player attacks them to get their attention.  
> You'll find several temporary safe zones around the jungle. Step into one, and the monsters can't hurt you and won't notice you - but only for five minutes, or until you leave it. After that, there's a ten-minute pause before you can use it again.  
> Here in the Survivalist Jungle, your enemies will be traditional monsters like goblins and slimes.


	11. Rabbit and Tiger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anime inspirations and manga inspirations, both sources I've partaken in. If only I could get my hands on the game.

Stella  
Armour: Howling Furs  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Bullet Black  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Shadow Coat  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Edge of Bone  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Shadow Coat  
Weapon: Wooden Boomerang  
Weapon: Kunai  
Garb: None

"Help!"

Stella heard the girl's cry before she found the trap - a rope net was hanging from a tall tree, with several leaves inside to tell her it had been well-camouflaged (or possibly non-existent until triggered, given the diversity of the virtual environment). There were two figures inside - and to Stella's concern, there were already a trio of orcs around the floor beneath them, jabbing at them with roughly-made spears and slowly whittling down their HP.

She quickly dashed forward, impaling one on her Black Blade and striking another in the snout with the butt of her pistol. She quickly yanked the edge out and knocked down a third orc's spear before firing at his face; Nana quickly rushed up at her side and bashed the first with her tonfa, jabbing the second with her with her own blade, and Ron hurled a few kunai at the third while Stella was firing at them.

It didn't take long for those three orcs to shatter, but there were already more coming close enough that the win screen didn't pop up. Stella quickly raised her gaze to the players in the net. "Are you alright!?"

"We're more than half," replied a young girl's voice. "But we can't get out of here!"

"Got your weapons ready?" Ron asked.

"That doesn't help!" protested a male voice; a gauntlet-clad hand extended through the net, closed into a fist. "I can't reach from up here, and she's got a hammer!"

Ron shook his head. "That's good enough." Turning to Nana and Stella; "When I give the word, leap clear."

More orcs emerged around them; Stella and Nana went back-to-back, and Stella started firing as Ron dashed towards one. A boot to the head and a few kunai later, he was a good ways away, and he hurled his boomerang at the ropes with a yell of "Now!"

Stella lunged at one orc, driving her blade into its neck and firing at its face from point-blank as it toppled over; Nana met another's spear on her tonfa and forced it back before slashing at it. The boomerang collided with the ropes and snapped them; the net fell to the ground, and Ron caught the returning edge and charged towards the net as its occupants struggled to get out. They were free by the time he got there; a girl half Stella's size with shoulder-length blonde hair and a wooden hammer, and a somewhat older boy with brown hair cut very short and a pair of gauntlets, both wearing leather armour from the Town of Endings.

The next orc to get within melee range quickly took that hammer to the snout; Stella fired at it from one side, Ron hurled kunai at it from the other, and as soon as the hammer was pulled away the gauntlets slammed into the face it had left, finishing it off. Another orc rushed the hammer girl and ran smack into Nana's tonfa; the girl quickly slammed a blow into it as her friend rushed the next; Stella fired at it until he was close enough to punch it, then turned on another as Ron hurled his boomerang.

After a good bit of brawling, the horde had faded out, and the five of them kept ready stances until the win menu popped up.

"Okay," Stella mused, holstering her pistol. "I think we're good." She turned to the net victims. "You two okay?"

"Yeah!" The girl propped her hammer over her shoulder, setting her other hand behind her head. "Thanks for the save! I'm Acta; this is Nico."

"I'm Ron, that's Stella, and she's Nana," the boomeranger introduced. "You guys want an escort to the town?"

"No way," Nico protested. "We're not risking another trap. We're going back to the Town of Endings."

Nana shook her head. "You're closer to the shelter than the Plain," she insisted. "It'll be safer to keep going, and then you can teleport back if you want."

Nico opened his mouth to argue, but Acta beat him to it. "Teleport? That's a thing in this game?"

"Only between towns," Ron explained.

Acta smiled. "That sounds  _way_ safer than going back the way we came!" she agreed.

Stella nodded. "Any objections?"

"...I guess not," Nico muttered.

* * *

The trip back to the Enduring Shelter was more-or-less uneventful; after a brief stop at the weapons and armour shops, Nana showed Acta and Nico how to activate the warp orb.

"Now it should be lit up for you, right?" Nana mused. "Then you just set you hand on it..." - here she pressed her palm to the orb's surface - "...and then say 'Teleport: Town of Endings'."

A bright light shone around her; when it faded, she was gone. An abrupt blink in Stella's HUD drew her attention, and she glanced up to the party listing to find Nana's HP bar vanishing. "Dammit," she muttered, "she auto-left."

"She's gone from your party?" Acta mused. Turning to Nico; "Then we'd better go together."

Nico set a hand on the orb - her new gauntlets whirring mechanically - and Acta did the same; then Nico counted down on his fingers, and they said at once, "Teleport: Town of Endings!"

Both vanished at the same time. Stella was about to take off for the shops while they waited for Nana to get back... but a worrisome thought rose in her mind, and she turned to Ron to find an expression of similar mood on his face.

"You think we should maybe...?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Nana was waiting for them when Stella and Ron arrived at the plaza in the Town of Endings. Acta and Nico were already well out of the plaza, and Stella quickly turned to Nana and asked, "Where are they going?"

"They said they were going to keep levelling in the Plain," Nana replied. "Sorry, I didn't realize it was gonna de-party us."

"A bit solo in the beta, weren't we," Ron observed as Stella tapped her way to the party menu again. "You sure you want to let them go?"

"Enemies in the Plain aren't that tough," Nana insisted, "I didn't think it was going to be a problem."

Ron sighed, glancing in the direction they had left. "What level are you guys?"

Stella glanced up at her HP bar - having been partied together since launch, she and Nana were climbing at the exact same rate. "We hit Lv 16 after that rescue," she replied, "why?"

"I'm Lv 18," Ron explained, "and I've  _never_ run into orcs in the Jungle before today. They don't seem that experienced, but I'd say those two are higher level than we are." He turned towards the girls. "What does that tell you about the monsters they're gonna run into?"

Nana narrowed her gaze. "...If they're higher level," she murmured, "then they should be able to handle it, no? The enemy patterns in the Plain are..."

"It's not about their stats," Ron insisted. "If they run into a tiger or something that moves more than they can handle, or a bear or the like with enough body to keep them pinned, they're finished."

"Tigers and bears don't live in fields, do they?" Stella asked.

"The Plain hosts animal monsters," Nana replied. "They didn't really take habitat into consideration."

Stella sighed, starting in the direction they had gone. "This time, let's not let them out of our sight."

Her party members nodded; then they all broke into a run, charging after their rescuees.

* * *

Ron's hypothesis was dead-on - Acta and Nico were clashing with a pair of tigers in a dip on the Plain, and a glancing blow across Nico's side told Stella that they were not faring very well. She quickly drew her pistol as she approached, firing a few rounds at one tiger to get its attention; it started charging towards her, and Ron quickly hurled his boomerang in a wide arc to strike both. Nana landed a passing strike on Stella's target with her tonfa before continuing towards the other, and Stella drew her Black Blade and impaled the beast through the throat.

It knocked off a good chunk of HP, but not enough to finish it off; nonetheless, being shish-kebab'd meant that the tiger was in ill condition to continue attacking, and Stella lifted it off the ground and raised her pistol to start firing at its maw. Ron bypassed her and started hurling kunai at Nana's target, which Acta and Nico had started ganging up on.

It didn't take long for that one to shatter - under Nana's Black Blade. Nico growled angrily and charged towards the one Stella had impaled, bringing a fist back; Stella, however, had a quick trigger finger, and his punch only dealt enough damage that her next shot was the killing blow. As the tiger faded out, she wrenched her Black Blade out, breathing a heavy sigh as the win screens popped up; Stella noticed the tiger had dropped something, but only closed the menu with her sword hand.

"You stole my kill," Nico snapped.

"Oh, thank you, Stella, for saving our lives," Nana called reprimandingly.

"You _stole my kill!_ " Nico repeated.

Stella sheathed her sword. "You know what they say about beggar's choices," she insisted.

She didn't even have the chance to holster her pistol before Nico slammed a punch into her stomach, causing her to double over as a chunk dropped out of her HP bar. " **You!** " Another punch to the shoulder, causing her to stumble as another chunk fell. " **Stole!** " Another to the chest, almost knocking Stella to the ground, and her HP lightened away from black. " **My!** " He drew back his fist for a fourth blow. " **Kill!** "

He couldn't connect before Stella bashed the handle of her pistol into his forehead. As he tumbled back, his own HP dropped slightly; given their stat difference and the penalty from using a ranged weapon for melee, the damage didn't amount to much, but the tiger had already dealt Nico enough that his HP hit the pale zone.

"Hey!" he protested. "My HP's already low-"

"And  _what happens when it runs out!?_ "

Stella's yell seemed to roar across the plain as she aimed the barrel of her gun at Nico's face.  _OSO_ 's dynamic character engine kicked in, and his face paled from fear as he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun whose owner had a finger on the trigger. "This isn't a game you can play twice! If you hit zero, you have thirteen minutes to live! We've been here for thirty days and  **no one** 's found a revival item - shops, drops, anywhere! Do you  **realize** what that means!?" She moved her pistol forward, and Nico stumbled back. "This is a matter of life and death! If you hit someone hard enough to take them out, you're not a player killer; you're a  **murderer!** If you get taken out by some mob in the starting zone, you won't try again, you'll  **die!** "

A long moment of silence; Ron and Nana exchanged uncertain glances, worried at what Stella was going to do.

Then she pulled her pistol back and shoved it into its holster. "We just saved your life," she snapped. "You're in  _no_ position to complain about who got the killing blow."

Nico hung his head. "I'm... sorry."

"Now," Stella demanded, turning to Acta, "which one of you thought you could get saved by someone and then head straight back into the encounter zone."

Acta aimed a finger at Nico hesitantly. Nico had his back turned to her, and raised his hand.

"You two are leveling  _way_ too fast," Stella reprimanded. "You're running into monsters tougher than you can handle. Your stats don't mean anything; you have no heads for strategy and there's only two of you." She shook her head. "We're taking you back to the Town of Endings. You should  _stay_ there."

"No."

Acta's murmur drew everyone's attention. "What do you mean, no?" Nana asked.

"I don't want to just hide," Acta insisted, stepping forward. "I don't want to just wait for everyone else to do the job! I'm the one who said we should keep leveling as fast as we can! I want to help finish this!"

"Then why didn't you party with anyone else?" Ron argued.

"Nobody wanted us to join them," Acta replied. "They said they had enough people already, or we were gonna mess up the way they fought."

"Hardcores," Nana muttered, crossing her arms. "They want a smaller party so the EXP doesn't get divided as much. After the talk about the Black Blades on launch, they'd all be using those, so they wouldn't want to learn the fighting style of someone who uses a different weapon."

Ron hummed. "What level are you two?"

"T...twenty-three," Nico replied.

"Five levels, seven levels..." Ron turned to Nana. "How does the EXP distribution work?"

"For small mobs, each kill divides the EXP evenly among the party that landed the killing blow," Nana replied. "You start running into big solo creatures further from the Plain, those reward EXP to each party that helps depending on their contribution."

"Alright." Ron turned back to Acta and Nico. "Tell you what. You guys travel with us for a bit. Stronger mobs come out around you, and you let us do the kills. Once we have, you join our party. Alright?"

Acta smiled. "Sounds good!"

Nico nodded. "Okay."

Stella sighed. "That being said," she added, "your HP's already low. We should head back to the Town of Endings and patch you guys up." Then, raising a finger warningly; "And if I catch you going after any mobs before we get there, I'm going to tie you up and leave you in an inn, alright?"

"Alright," Nico conceded.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case I messed something up, Stella's "do they" is meant to indicate that she hasn't done explicit research on the subject.
> 
> As much as I'd like to continue my chapter-per-day update pace, I implicitly promised my Zelda readers a new entry when the second DLC pack for Breath of the Wild came out and that happened yesterday. I might be gone for a bit.


	12. Forest Labyrinth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, on second thought, I'm not going to try multitasking my fics. Every time I have seen that done has ended horribly. That being said, I'm probably still not going to pull off a chapter per day like I was before.
> 
> Equipment briefing note - A single, occupied "Weapon:" slot indicates one item that takes up both of a player's weapon slots.

_45 Days Since Launch_

Stella  
Armour: Howling Furs  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Bullet Black  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Shadow Coat  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Edge of Bone  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Shadow Coat  
Weapon: Orcish Boomerang  
Weapon: Kunai  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Shadow Coat  
Weapon: Mighty Hammer  
Weapon: None  
Garb: None

Nico  
Armour: Howling Furs  
Weapon: Brute's Gauntlets  
Garb: None

"Down!"

Acta slammed her hammer into an orc, throwing it into a nearby tree. Stella quickly fired at it, finishing it off in short order; when another tried to get her in the back, it found itself punched by Nico, leaving it open to Nana's leaping strike. It, too, shattered, and the five of them scanned the area for any further enemies until the win screens popped up.

"And level," Nana mused.

Stella glanced at her gauge to find they had indeed climbed a level. "Oh, so it is," she mused, holstering her pistol and sheathing her Black Blade.

"Does that mean you're caught up?" Nico inquired.

"Caught up enough," Stella confirmed, opening her menu. Party-join boxes appeared before Acta and Nico - as well as Ron, who had insisted on de-joining the party after he had caught up ahead of them - and they quickly tapped confirm, causing three more HP gauges to appear under Stella's own. "Also, Nico, got something for you."

Nico was surprised at that. "What?"

Nana turned. "What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

Stella tapped through her inventory and prompted something to manifest; a pair of gauntlets in black with orange stripes, the fingers of which became long claws. "Got these on the Plain," she explained, handing them to him. "Think they'll be an improvement on what you got in the Shelter."

"You think?" Nico inquired, reaching to take them; a prompt button appeared under his finger, and they vanished as a dialogue box appeared before him.

"They didn't have anything better than wolf furs or stag antlers," Ron admitted, "I wouldn't be surprised."

Nico tapped through his menu; his braced gauntlets vanished, and the claws appeared on his hands. "Okay, cool," he mused. "But do I still punch with those, or do I have to..." He made a swiping motion.

Ron glanced at Nana, who shrugged. "It'll still let you deal damage with punches," she explained. "But if you  _want_ to do the scratch, that'll let that work."

Acta spoke up. "So, what do we do now?" she asked. "Should we keep going through the jungle to the other side?"

"Probably not the best idea," Nana admitted. "You guys know what the Otherworld map looks like?"

"Yeah," Stella confirmed, "it's like a ring around the Field. The Plain's the southernmost."

"The game's designed so tougher enemies appear further from the Plain," Nana reminder them. "But travelling clockwise to the west makes the monster difficulty climb less than travelling counter-clockwise to the east. It's probably a better idea for us to travel to the forest on the other side of the Plain than keep going into the desert here."

Stella nodded. "Back to the Shelter, then," she mused. "Let's get going."

* * *

The trip back to the warp orb was uneventful; after some resupplying in the Town of Endings, the party of five departed east. With nothing more difficult than a tiger, they eventually arrived at the edge of a forest - with a clear path smack in the center of the wall of trees. Stella was about to ask Nana about it when dialogue boxes appeared before them - the area's briefing.

 _=Forest Labyrinth=_  
_This wood is a winding maze, with several different routes from start to finish. Be sure you are well-equipped before you enter._  
_It is possible to reach anything of import by following the paths. Although there is nothing stopping you from walking straight through, monsters will appear more frequently if you leave the path._  
_Here in the Forest Labyrinth, your enemies will be nature-themed, such as dryads and monster plants._

"Dryad?" Nico inquired.

"Tree-maidens," Acta explained.

"Yeah, watch where you're swinging," Nana insisted, closing her briefing. "They drop armour sets, and if you panic there's not a lot of difference between a dryad and a player wearing their drop."

"Will do," Stella confirmed starting into the wood.

She hadn't even made it two steps in before something shot of the forestry - a humanoid figure dressed in what looked like leaves, with pale orange hair. It slammed into Stella hard enough to knock a small chunk of her HP, earning a shriek as she was knocked to the ground. Nico quickly charged forward and punched it to knock it off Stella's back; Ron hurled a few kunai at it from the side; and Acta leapt forward and slammed her hammer down on it.

It quickly went still, shimmered, and shattered into light, and win screens popped up.

Stella sat up. "Wait, what? That's too fast."

Nana dismissed her win screen all the same. "That's  _decidedly_ too fast."

"Hey!"

The brutish voice from nearby drew everyone's attention; several large figures in Other Cloaks were stepping out of the forestry, looking aggravated. "What do you think you're doing!?" demanded a man in front. "You can't just usurp someone's kill!"

"It came out of the trees and hit me!" Stella defended, getting to her feet. "Sorry for defending ourselves!"

"That doesn't-"

A hand on his chest cut him off; a girl with long white hair, pale skin, and red eyes, also dressed in an Other Cloak. The brute at the front - and most of the rest of the group - was head and shoulders above her, but that light blow and her firm "Hold on" were enough to give him pause. Once he had, she turned to Stella. "You took HP damage when it collided with you?" she asked.

"Yeah," Stella confirmed. "Wait, did you... send it flying?"

"We did," the girl confirmed. "And if you took damage from it, you're justified in eliminating it yourself."

Somebody else in the group - a woman - reacted. "What? You're not seriously gonna-!"

The girl rounded on her with a glare, and she fell quiet. "We keep hunting. Let's go." Turning to Stella's group; "I'm sorry for the trouble."

The other party departed, heading back into the trees, and Nico sighed. "I thought you said we couldn't complain about kill stealing," he accused Stella.

"I said you couldn't complain about kill stealing when someone  _saves your life_ ," Stella corrected. "Anyways, let's go. Nana, any idea where..."

She fell quiet when she found Nana gazing in the direction the other party had gone. Ron spoke up. "Um, Nana?"

"That party," she murmured. "Did you see what they were wielding?"

"I didn't see that girl's weapon," Acta admitted, "but the rest were all carrying Black Blades."

"Hardcores," Stella realized. "That's why they're going through the trees instead of following the path. They're level grinding."

"Yeah," Nana confirmed. "Stay out of their way. They seem like they've been here for a while, I'd rather not think about what level they're at."

"They wouldn't try to..." Ron couldn't finish the question.

Nico's gaze fell to his hands. "...With their attitude, I wouldn't be surprised if they did."

* * *

A couple hours and several encounters later - including a bout with what appeared to be living ivy with some  _unwelcome_ intentions - Nana was pleased to discover that the Forest community had not been relocated the way that the Jungle's had. Hunters' Village was smack in the middle of the forest, with the buildings being not constructed in a clearing but instead hollow trees with furnishings within. After a quick stop at the warp orb, the five of them stopped by the weapons shop; as the monsters of the Forest were slightly tougher than those in the Jungle, so too were the items in these shops slightly stronger than those of the Enduring Shelter.

Stella bought herself a new pistol with camouflage patterns, and Acta a steel-headed hammer; Ron found some better projectile weapons (although no throwing weapon better than his orc-dropped boomerang), and he had enough sellable items to make up for the difference in matching his number of kunai. Nana was mildly surprised to find that there were weapons available which were superior to the stag-horn tonfa she had picked up on the plain; most items of that level were two-handed weapons that were still inferior to Nico's tiger claws, but she did end up purchasing a green-edged sickle that just barely surpassed her tonfa.

"Just going straight for the best stuff, are we?" Stella accused.

"I like some variety," Nana defended. "More often than not, seeking the best single-handed weapon provides it."

Acta opened the selling menu and was surprised to find something. "Oh! When did I...?" She Xed out of that menu and opened her inventory. "That was when we ran into those guys at the start!"

"Something new?" Ron asked.

"Glad we did the weapons shop first," Acta admitted.

She tapped to equip, and her coat from the Jungle vanished. Now Stella saw what Nana had been talking about with the dryads; the armour Acta was wearing was a leafy dress identical to the monster's, and the only real difference was Acta's skin tone, hair colour, and the presence of her weapons.

Ron made a face. "It's a dress?"

"It takes a different form if it's equipped by males," Nana assured him.

"Different form meaning 'men's clothing' or 'shorter skirt'?" Ron accused.

"...Um..." Nana hadn't actually  _seen_ this one equipped by males before.

He turned to Stella. "If I get one, I'll trade you for your furs."

Nico laughed. "Seriously?" he demanded. "You'd rather wear weaker armour than a dress? Just put on your Other Cloak."

Ron shook his head. "Half the fun of an MMO is that you have no excuse for not having your armour rendered. I'm not putting that thing on."

"You've got some weird priorities," Acta observed.

"So I've been told."

They made their way to the armour shop, where Ron and Nana got their own new armour - a close-fitting outfit in green camouflage, with a cap that did a decent job of hiding Ron's hair as usual. After restocking on healing items, Stella asked the party; "It's getting kinda late, you guys want to hit an inn?"

Nana glanced around. "Maybe we could hit up one encounter around the border of the village?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Nico agreed. "Make sure everything works nicely for us, one fight; then we can come back and call it a night."

Acta nodded. "Yeah."

Ron shrugged. "No problems here."

Stella hummed, uncertain. "How far away do we have to be before we can run into monsters?" she asked.

"There's a very clearly-marked border," Nana insisted. "As long as you're outside that, encounters can happen."

"Alright, then," Stella agreed. "One encounter."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't tell you how many times I've bought something in an RPG because it's better than what I have equipped before I made sure I had the best stuff in my inventory equipped.
> 
> Also, hardcore online gamers are acceptable targets. Nothing can convince me otherwise.
> 
> [EDITED: it strikes me that this looks horrendously like I'm setting the party up for a horrendous incident. That is NOT going to happen. I was just tired and needed to end this chapter]


	13. Match Made in Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anybody ever heard 'The Willow Maid' by Erutan? The new armour names in this chapter are references to that. I love that song.

Stella  
Armour: Howling Furs  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Auto Shot  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Coat of Green  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Sorrowful Sickle  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Coat of Green  
Weapon: Orcish Boomerang  
Weapon: Shuriken  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Willow Mail  
Weapon: Iron Hammer  
Weapon: None  
Garb: None

Nico  
Armour: Howling Furs  
Weapon: Striped Claws  
Garb: None

Stella woke up the next day feeling far more rested than she believed she ought. She made her way out of the inn room and found the rest of the party waiting for her outside; Ron was the first to notice her arrival, and greeted her with "Sleep well?"

"Apparently," Stella admitted. "You guys feel like a day of levelling, or should we maybe look around for something less..."

"Intensive?" Nana inquired. " _OSO_ doesn't do that."

Nico turned. "Doesn't do what?"

"Easy money," Nana replied. "You know some games have treasure just sitting around, or little minigames scattered about with easy rewards?  _OSO_ doesn't do that. You can only get Ai from monster drops, and any equipment that doesn't come out of that has to be bought in shops."

"I meant something like a dungeon," Stella corrected. "No explorative crypts?"

Nana shook her head. "The overworld isn't explorative enough for you?" she inquired. "The Otherworld is  **open**. Nothing is hidden by anything more than the terrain. There's the seven regions, and then the domains of the goddesses. We didn't even have the goddesses in the beta, and none of the testers were dissatisfied."

"None of the testers had their life on the line," Acta argued.

An uncomfortable quiet fell over the group; then Stella spoke up again. "Levelling it is. Paths or trees?"

"Paths," Ron mused. "Let's maybe try and find the fastest route from here to the next region."

"Sounds good."

* * *

More powerful monsters only appeared to more powerful players, but even then, they were rarer than the weaker sorts. To Stella's mild amusement, they had encountered all the weaker sorts on their way to the village - at least in comparison to what they encountered on their way  **out** of the village. A living tree dropped what appeared to be a shield; after some analysis on its design (some shields being designed to be worn on the arm, and others grasped in the hand), Nana suggested that Acta equip it in her empty weapons slot.

A few hours in, Ron found himself shivering. "Is it getting cold, or is it just me?"

"No," Nana confirmed, "we're getting close to the edge of the tundra. Watch your HP, the blizzard eats away at it if we leave the forest."

"How are you supposed to make it through if it keeps hurting you?" Acta inquired. "Do you just bring a huge amount of potions and crystals?"

A snicker broke out before Nana could stop it. "It hurts you slower near the boundaries," she explained, "and there's a community close either end. They sell cold-resistant gear. If you have it equipped, it'll stop you from taking damage."

Nico glanced at his wolf-fur armour. "Wouldn't this be cold-resistant?" he asked.

"That's a very good question," Acta agreed. "Furs are like the classic 'hunter in the cold' outfit."

Nana hummed. "You know, I've never thought of that before."

"I still say we shouldn't hit the tundra just yet," Stella admitted.

Ron shook his head. "If there's a community at either end, it'd be a good idea to-"

He fell quiet when a loud roar echoed from nearby, drawing their attention. Down what seemed to be a dead-end, a familiar group of players in Other Cloaks were fighting a living tree - five wielding Black Blades, a sixth carrying a heavy shield and an asymmetrical sword with a needlessly long handle.

"It's those hardcores," Ron murmured.

The tree was under half HP already, and seemed to be focusing on the girl with the shield and sword - the same girl who had stopped her allies from attacking Stella's party, who was primarily on the defensive and only attacking when it was vulnerable after an attempted strike. The Black Blade wielders were attacking it from behind, striking at it with thrusts from as long as their weapons could reach; after one blow, it started to turn, and the girl quickly charged forward. Stella watched in amazement as she leapt into an uppercut, then brought her blade down on the fall before swinging it out, in, and out again. As the tree began to turn back, she arced into a counterclockwise spin to strike it twice, then a clockwise spin to strike it twice more before leaping into a flip and bringing her blade down on its face.

"She's tanking its aggro," Nico realized.

"Yeah," Ron mused. "She keeps it busy, and they whittle it down until the aggro is transferred to one of them, then she gets its attention back on her."

A feminine growl drew Stella's attention; three dryads were approaching them. She quickly drew her pistol and her own Black Blade, getting everyone else's attention, and fired at the dryad up front (her new one having an automatic fire just barely faster than she could pull the trigger). Ron promptly hurled his boomerang at an arc to strike at two of them, and Nana, Acta, and Nico all charged forward as it returned to his hand; Stella took a few paces to the side before resuming her fire from an angle where it wouldn't risk hitting her party members.

One dryad tried to pry Acta's hands off her hammer, but the tree's shield proved its worth when she moved it in the way of the blow; Nana quickly hooked her sickle around its neck, whereupon the monster proved light enough for her to drag it into a backflip that ended with the dryad face-down. Her Black Blade was quickly driven into its back and stuck in the ground, providing a target for Stella to fire at, and the next one's attempt to strike her in the back took a punch from Nico and a few shuriken from Ron while Nana started helping Acta with the third.

Ron's boomerang slammed into the one impaled on Nana's blade, finishing it off... and collided roughly with the ground in the process, negating the aim of his throw to strike at another one. Stella started firing at the one Nico was fighting, and Ron hurled a few more shuriken at Acta's target. A skyward swing provided an amusing image when the dryad was thrown into the air as its HP was dropping, leaving it suspended above their heads as it faded and shattered, and Acta quickly moved into a falling strike to drop the last one to the ground, leaving it defenseless as Nana slashed it, Stella shot it, and Nico punched its face into the dirt.

It quickly shattered, and win screens popped up as they pulled their weapons away.

Ron groaned. "Lovely."

"You got the armour drop, didn't you," Acta accused.

"Yes, I did," Ron confirmed.

"At least try it on before you demand to make trades," Nico reprimanded.

With a dissatisfied sigh, Ron opened his menu and tapped his way to his inventory, equipping the new armour. With a flash, his hunting outfit was replaced with a garb of leaves - and to Stella's relief, it was indeed a man's tunic rather than a woman's dress. There was no headpiece, which left his hair messy about his head; he made a few back and forth motions with the armour before sighing. "I guess I can make this work."

"If you don't like it, I'll trade you for the furs," Stella insisted.

"I don't mind it," Ron insisted, "I just prefer a hat. I can get used to not having a hat."

Nana made a 'well, yeah' motion with her head. "Your hair is kinda shaggy," she admitted, picking up his fallen boomerang. She tossed it lightly towards him, prompting him to catch it and holster it, before stepping towards her impaled Black Blade.

Someone else's hand closed on it.

"Lucky us." It was one of the hardcores who had been fighting the tree; she yanked the blade out of the ground and angled it before herself. "Here I was worried we were gonna end up broke getting her a new one."

"Hey, give that back!" Nana protested.

Acta quickly grabbed her arm to stop her from charging forward; the rest of the party was approaching. "What are you doing?" asked the girl with the sword and shield.

The woman turned to her. "Saving you the Ai," she insisted, turning the weapon in hand and offering the handle to her. "New Black Blade for you."

"That's  **mine** ," Nana snapped.

"Then you shouldn't have left it stuck in the dirt," snapped another member of the party.

The girl shook her head. "I'm keeping the monsters off you guys," she insisted. "I don't need a Black Blade.

The woman shrugged. "Fine. I've never done dual wielding before."

"You can't just-!"

Stella couldn't finish before the woman whirled around with Nana's blade outstretched. The attack slammed into her midsection and threw her into the trees, causing her party to yell as she tumbled to the ground. She'd taken all of one hit on their way through the labyrinth - keeping at range will do that - yet that blow was enough to knock her HP almost into the pale zone.

"What are you doing!?" the girl demanded. "You can't just go attacking other-!"

The sound of several weapons being drawn caused her to fall quiet; the other five members of her party had all drawn their own weapons, and were holding them in the girl's direction. "Look," the woman snapped, "you're in  _no_ position to be ordering us around. A little girl who doesn't even have the smarts to use a weapon that's been  _spelled out_ as better than everything else in the game has no authority among us."

"You just about killed her in one hit," the girl insisted. "Do you **want** to be a murderer?"

The woman scoffed. "Murderer? Please."

"Excuse me!?"

"This is a game," the woman protested. "You don't really believe that bullshit about us really dying, do you?"

"What part of a  _live-broadcast news report_  is bullshit?" the girl demanded.

"Oh, yeah, because VR this sophisticated couldn't  _possibly_  fake the layout of the most prolific news channel in the country, and a 'live' stamp is impossible to imitate." The woman's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "This whole 'no logout' thing is a publicity stunt. When we get out of here, everybody with a grave marker is gonna be making jokes of us on MMO forums."

The girl was incredulous. "You're insane."

"We want to win," the woman corrected. "Are you going to join us, or not?"

Automatic gunfire rang out from the trees; the woman couldn't react before a few shots slammed into her shoulder, knocking a couple chunks off her HP, and the rest of the party scattered in an effort to avoid the rest of the attacks. The girl quickly drew her shield and bashed it into the woman's arm, trying to knock the Black Blade out of her grip; Nana quickly dashed towards the gunfire, prompting the others to follow to find Stella on her feet and aiming through the trees.

"What are you doing?" Ron demanded.

"They're not taking this game seriously," Stella insisted. "They're going to kill us all and write it off like a PK in  _Shadow Hunter_."

Nana was tapping through her menu; a crystal appeared in her hand, and she quickly muttered "Heal" to shatter it, lifting Stella's HP. The girl with the shield was coming towards them, keeping her defense towards the rest of her party - or, as Stella suspected, former party.

"Talk about your falling-out," Nico mused.

"Run," the girl insisted. "They're crazy."

"We noticed that part," Stella admitted, turning round and charging through the trees. Sure enough, monsters started appearing much more rapidly than on the path, but Stella only raised her pistol and fired, dissuading them long enough for her group to pass them. The hardcores behind them didn't seem to be hindered much, and Stella could only hope that they ran into something that would be able to stop the party from attacking hers.

She found it.

A swirling yellow mist appeared before them, and they going too fast to stop; Stella barely had time to register the spiked white disc in the center of the vortex before she crossed its boundary, and the entire world was wrapped in gold.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, Kayaba shows about seventeen different news articles and videos when he does his event, which makes it really hard to understand why Rosalia and Titan's Hand refuse to believe him. I think they're just PKers up to their tits in denial. If you only provide a single citation, it's easier to believe that it's a fake.


	14. Go Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the official pronunciation of GGO is "ji-ji-oh", but it feels weird to have SAO and ALO be the two-syllable "say-oh" and "ay-loh", so I always end up pronouncing it "ji-goh"  
> [Disclaimer: I watch anime subbed; "ji-ji-oh" is how it's pronounced in the Japanese audio, I can't vouch for the English dub]  
> [Further disclaimer: this has nothing to do with the chapter, I'm just rambling]

Stella  
Armour: Howling Furs  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Auto Shot  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Coat of Green  
Weapon: None  
Weapon: Sorrowful Sickle  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Willow Mail  
Weapon: Orcish Boomerang  
Weapon: Shuriken  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Willow Mail  
Weapon: Iron Hammer  
Weapon: Bark Shield  
Garb: None

Nico  
Armour: Howling Furs  
Weapon: Striped Claws  
Garb: None

Ram  
Armour: Coat of Green  
Weapon: Marian Sword  
Weapon: Marian Shield  
Garb: Other Cloak

When the yellow faded, the first thing Stella realized was that it was dark - darker than it had been between the close-grown trees off the forest paths. At some point during the transport she had lost her balance, and was now lying sideways on the ground; she quickly picked herself up to find Nana, Ron, Acta, Nico, and the girl from the hardcores' party similarly disoriented around her.

_"Go away."_

A voice echoed around them, drawing Stella's attention away from her group. The area looked like a giant child's playroom... in the aftermath of a temper tantrum. They were surrounded by broken fragments of dolls, scattered building blocks, a rent chessboard, and a snapped toy scale, all upsized a hundredfold. Several of the broken pieces had been assembled together to form a massive, mismatched structure, with a small opening it seemed they had come through. Beneath the mess, the floor seemed to be made of bronze gearwork, gone still; the wreckage formed a valley, leading to an open region above which floated what seemed to be a dollhouse.

_"Go away."_

Warily, Stella got to her feet, prompting the others to do the same. "What is this?" Ron inquired.

"I don't know," Nana admitted. "This..." She gasped, shocked. "This... wasn't in the beta test."

The girl with the shield lowered her gaze. "Then this must be... the domain of the yellow goddess.

_"Go away."_

Acta shuddered. "What's that voice?" she murmured.

Nico glanced around. "Is that her? The goddess?"

Stella lowered her gaze. "I know that voice... Where do I know that voice?"

_"Go awa-"_

"There you are, you little shits!"

The brutish voice had everyone going for their weapons; the opening in the mismatched structure was swirling with yellow flame, from which was emerging the party of hardcores. The last one to come through was the one who had stolen Nana's Black Blade, who quickly advanced to the front as she drew her own. "Well, well, well," she mused. "Look what you've found here."

"Tell me you're not seriously thinking of taking on a goddess at this level," the girl with the shield pleaded. "You're going to get yourself killed."

_"Go away."_

"Funny thing about Black Blades," the woman mused, raising the twin swords at her sides. "They don't have stats dependent on your level, they  _alter_ your stats based on your level. Which means that if I have two equipped, I don't have an Attack of, say, 100 in this hand and 100 in that hand. I have an Attack of  **200** that I can use in either this hand or that hand."

_"Go away."_

She stepped forward. "But before I deal with the goddess, I still need to deal with you."

The girl drew her uneven sword.

The entire party laughed. "Oh, come on," one of the brutes taunted. "Only one of you have got a blade of your own, and that pistol sucks big dinosaur balls. Do you really think you stand a chance?"

_"Go away."_

"I'm not gonna stand here and let you disregard people's  _lives_ ," the girl snapped. "Whether you accept it or not, people are  **dying**. If you're threatening to kill us, we're going to defend ourselves - even if that means killing you."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Some people take their video games way too seriously."

_"Go away."_

She aimed one blade forward, and the entire party charged forward before she brought up the rear, dragging the Black Blades across the ground. Stella glanced towards the valley and then back before charging towards the opening; the rest of the team followed her prompt, with the shield-bearer bringing up the back as a precaution. Ron was even with Stella, and she quickly muttered, "Go for their faces."

Ron turned. "What?"

"Go for their faces," Stella insisted as they neared the opening. "The damage graphics will blind them for a bit. Let them pass, and then charge back to the portal."

The ranger nodded as they neared the gap. Once they were at the ridge, they both came to a halt; Stella drew her pistol, and Ron drew his shuriken. Nana, Acta, Nico, and the girl with the shield all moved to the sides as they started firing, hitting the hardcores between the eyes, and though the HP damage was minimal, the red splashes from the contact had them stumbling. Once they were near enough, Ron leapt aside, and Stella took a single short step to let them pass ahead of her.

They did... and something passed through  **them**.

A massive figure in bronze shot past the gap - something huge and legged, dragging a pair of huge wheels behind it. The fastest of the group were struck by the legged thing, and thrown aside; those behind them found themselves in the way of the wheels, and were shortly run over. Stella gasped in terror as she saw their HP bars, nearly full, pale and deplete with a speed she didn't think was possible; their bodies lightened and then shattered, and black grave markers appeared where they had lain. The dual-wielding woman stumbled to a stop as the shape passed them, turning and dragging its cargo into a skid around itself. The creature was six-legged and otherwise spiderlike, with something at the front that looked unsettlingly like a doll's head. The wheels were some kind of cart, in which was seated an unfamiliar figure with long, flaxen hair; a black crown rested atop her face, and her hands, wrapped in black claws, were grasping what seemed to be controls for the thing.

An HP bar appeared above the goddess - in bright yellow.

"Oh my g..."

Stella turned to the party. "Run. _Run!_ "

The entire group charged back the way they had come, but the dual-wielding woman only glared, raising her blades. The spider-legged vehicle charged forward, intending to ram her head on; she quickly stepped to the side, putting her under the arc of its legs and outside the bounds of the cart's wheels, and raised her blades to strike at the rider.

Spikes jut out of the wheels, further than she could move in such short time.

She had no chance to react before they slammed into her, and her entire HP bar was depleted before she had even began moving against them, leaving her - and the swords she was carrying - to shatter.

* * *

Stella kept running through the blaze of yellow that her surroundings were wrapped in; when they faded, she was back in the Forest Labyrinth, and she stumbled to a rough stop. Glancing back revealed her party had followed her though, and the vortex of yellow flame lingered for a moment, with the spiked wheel in white prominent upon it, before fading out.

"What the hell was that!?" Nico screamed. "The goddess, she... she wiped them out in one hit!"

"Not just one hit," the girl with the shield insisted. "How fast they dropped, she... she was dealing enough damage to eliminate them five times over. No, that wasn't even her, that was just her chariot. They're not expecting us to fight this thing until we've got levels in the triple digits!"

"That was her voice, then?" Acta mused. "That was the goddess' voice?"

"It couldn't have been," Nana gasped. "Enemy sounds are synthesized. But that sounded too natural."

"...Izuriha."

Stella's gasp drew everyone's attention. "What was that?"

"Kagari Izuriha," Stella gasped. "She was one of the testers for  _Otherworld_.  **That's** where I heard that voice before! She played  _War of the Gods_ before the beta test. She's taunt players like that.  _Go away, go away_." She grasped at her hair. "Son of a bitch, they based the goddesses on  _Otherworld_ 's testers."

"...You look like that's going to be a problem," Ron observed. "Did you know one of them?"

Stella shook her head. "No... it won't be a problem. That looked different enough - if they're all that different, it shouldn't be a problem for me." She turned to the girl with the shield. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, that depends," the girl admitted, sheathing her sword and hooking her shield on her back. "Would you be willing to let me into your party?"

"Well, that depends," Nana countered. "Why were you with a party of jackass hardcores like that, anyways?"

"They asked me to join them because they saw me fighting with a Black Blade," the girl replied. "But when somebody else came and asked to join the party after I had joined, they refused. They didn't want anybody who used anything else, because that's 'the best' weapon." She made air quotes with her fingers. "Even when we got here, and they had weapons better than the one I got, they wouldn't let me buy it because my Black Blade would eventually catch up. They wouldn't even let me use a shield because it would mean a different fighting style. The only thing they let me buy was armour."

Ron shook his head. "That's messed up. Your party members aren't items that you can just decide how to use."

The girl nodded. "I thought I might be able to change the way they work. So I stayed up over one night, grabbed this stuff." She tapped her long-handled sword. "When they woke up, I told them I had sold my Black Blade. Then I said I'd give them a new strategy - I get the attention of any monsters we fight, and everyone else can take them out while they're occupied with me." She shook her head. "They acted like that was fine. They didn't raise questions. Whenever someone started getting mad, I'd prove I can overpower him out with just this stuff. Then..."

Her gaze went up to Nana, who understood immediately. "Then they took my Black Blade and tried to kill you because you wanted them to give it back."

"I didn't think they were crazy enough to ignore the fact that people are  _dying_ ," the girl defended. "Publicity stunt... we've been forcibly logged in for a month and a half, we'd be  _dead_ if people hadn't gotten their brains fried on launch day! We've all got to be on life support in the real world!"

Nana glanced at Stella, who nodded; then she turned to Nico and Acta, who nodded. A gaze at Ron revealed a pensive look on his face; then she turned back to the shield-bearer. "You said you  _told_ them you had sold your Black Blade," she observed. "Does that mean you didn't really?"

"Yeah."

"Then you're in," Nana replied. "And I would really appreciate the replacement."

The girl sighed in relief. "Thank you. Um, which of you is in charge?"

"That would be her," Acta explained, aiming a finger at Stella.

Awkwardly, Stella realized that she  **had** , in fact, been more-or-less deciding where the party went; Nana's beta-test experience had provided counsel, but nobody had been objecting to where she said they would go. "Um... yeah, kinda. I'm Stella." Then, pointing to her party members; "That's Nana, he's Ron, she's Acta, and that one's Nico."

"Ram," the shield-bearer replied. "Thank you."

Stella opened her menu, but paused before she could open the party-join prompt. "Um... what level are you?"

Ram glanced upward. "...Thirty-eight."

"Holy  **shit** ," Ron exclaimed. None of them had broken Lv 30 yet.

"Okay," Stella insisted, "at risk of being rude, you're not  _joining_ the party until we catch up."

"That sounds fair," Ram admitted, glancing at Acta's shield, "but I don't think you're low enough level for me to be luring anything you haven't seen."

"Yet."

"Point."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing that really irks me in SAO; Heathcliff accuses Kirito of trying to take Asuna for a while. -Asuna- told -Kirito- that she wanted to take a leave of absence from the guild and party with him. Neither of them bring this up. The only way I can justify that is that Asuna respects Heathcliff too much to object and Kirito doesn't want to throw her under the bus, but still.


	15. Sun's Sandsea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> People say that Dead from B★RS Innocent Soul has an unhealthy range of consumed items. But the only three offending items are a teddy bear, Rock's hair, and her devouring of souls. The teddy and hair were eaten in her sleep, and I'm sure we've all heard the joke where you dream about a marshmallow and wake up with no pillow. And souls are like bacon - they taste good on everything.

_70 Days Since Launch_

Stella  
Armour: Howling Furs  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Auto Shot  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Willow Mail  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Sorrowful Sickle  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Coat of Green  
Weapon: Orcish Boomerang  
Weapon: Shuriken  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Willow Mail  
Weapon: Iron Hammer  
Weapon: Bark Shield  
Garb: None

Nico  
Armour: Howling Furs  
Weapon: Striped Claws  
Garb: None

Ram  
Armour: Coat of Green  
Weapon: Marian Sword  
Weapon: Marian Shield  
Garb: Other Cloak

"Hot one way, and cold the other."

Just as the chill from the tundra could be felt from within the Forest Labyrinth, so too was the heat from the desert noticeable as the party neared the edge of the Survivalist Jungle. "Don't worry," Nana assured at Ron's comment, "this heat won't suck at your HP."

"So, which heat  _will_ suck at your HP?" Nico asked.

Nana made a self-reprimanding expression as the rest of the party turned to her.

"You kinda lined yourself up for that one," Ram argued.

"Yeah, I did," Nana agreed. "On the other side of the desert is a volcanic region. That area  _does_ drain your HP over time." She reached back and raised her hood. "That being said, clouds don't even happen out here. The sun is a pain in the ass during the day." 

Stella and Ram quickly raised their own hoods. Nico and Acta exchanged worried glances before opening their menus and equipping their own Other Cloaks, while Ron merely adjusted his cap. A few uneventful minutes later, they found the edge of the jungle; the soil quickly gave way to sand, and a wide-open desert stretched out before them. The first step onto the sands cued the dialogue boxes, briefing them on the region they entered.

 _=Sun's Sandsea=_  
_This desert is a barren expanse. Your only obstacles here are the monsters you face and the weight of your boots._  
_Several oases are scattered throughout the sands. If you soak in the waters, you will be healed up to a set amount of HP, and have your status conditions cleared. However, you can only take the full effect from each oasis once per day._  
_Here in the Sun's Sandsea, you will face destructive enemies such as wind wraiths and toxic enemies such as scorpions._

"Sand sea," Acta observed as they closed the message. "That sounds ritzy."

"It's as wide as an ocean and filled with destroyers," Stella observed. "Let's not linger."

Ram nodded. "Agreed."

* * *

The downside to having no obstacles in the desert was the complete lack of landmarks. Despite the heat not being enough to deal damage, it was still enough to make the players uncomfortable, and the way the sands weaved meant the air distorting from the temperature made sights at long distances unreliable. Wind tends to kick up sand, and the wind wraiths were no exception; the scorpions they encountered were the size of horses, and a well-aimed sting to Stella's arm gave them their first nasty encounter with a status condition - paralysis.

"Whose idea was it that the first place that sells status healers is clear across the region where you first run into statuses?" Ram protested as she and Ron walked Stella along. The paralysis stopped her from moving any part of her body except her head - and even if she had a weapon that let her deal unarmed attacks, an awkward Nico had informed them that headbutts didn't count (and insisted that he had learned that **before** the death game was announced), leaving her to pretty much look and talk.

"It was closer to the jungle in the beta test," Nana insisted. "Another stupid tidbit that doesn't do me any good."

"Please tell me you've got some good news, though," Stella pleaded.

Nana shook her head. "Paralysis is _supposed_ to wear off after a long while," she admitted, "but other than that..." Her gaze shot up. "Wait."

The rest of the party exchanged glances. "What are you thinking of?" Acta asked.

She got not response before the ground began to shake around them; everybody started, falling back-to-back, and Stella swore when she saw the sands shifting towards them. "Destructive doesn't have to mean magic, does it."

"Tell me that's not a-"

Ron's prayer went unanswered; the party broke ranks, and a titanic snake that anyone would swear was made of  _stone_ shot out of the sand. It lashed its head down, screeching at the gathered players, and  _two HP bars_ rose up beside its head; after a moment, it set its sights on Nico, and dove back into the sands.

"Don't let its size scare you!" Nana told them as everyone drew their weapons. "It's not strong enough to do too much damage to us at this level; it's just got a lot of HP!"

"Drop me."

Stella's demand earned her worried looks from Ron and Ram. "What!?"

"Put me down!" Stella insisted. "You can't fight this thing like this!"

"How are you going to defend yourself like this?" Ron demanded.

Ram quickly pulled her shield off her back and pressed it to the sands before dropping Stella onto it; some quick shifts of her limbs were enough to get her whole body within the bounds of the plate. "Stay there," she insisted, drawing her sword. "I don't know if a shield's any good against something this size, but it's better than nothing."

She charged at the sandsnake as it burst out of the sand threateningly close to Nana; Ron groaned and drew his shuriken, hurling them forward as fast as they would fly. A lucky hit to the eye dealt a welcome amount of damage, but also got him a sharp glare and a screech before the creature burrowed towards him. Ram halted mid-dash, watching where it was going; then she quickly turned her uneven sword in hand and slammed it into the sands, digging it in to the hilt. A large patch of sand around her fluidized from the airflow of the sandsnake  _screaming_ when it collided with the blade, and Ram found herself thrown into the air when it shot out of the sands again.

Nana hurled her sickle at one of its eyes; to her dismay, it collided handle-first, but somebody on  _OSO_ 's dev team had realized that a weapon doesn't always land pointy-end in and let that deal damage all the same. As the creature turned around, Acta whirled into a spin and hurled her hammer at its other eye - that hit with enough force to send the creature reeling, whereupon Nico was able to leap up and dig his claws into the ridge of its eye sockets. Ron waited until it stopped writhing to resume hurling shuriken at it, getting five of his seven throws in its eyes before he ran out; the sandsnake dove back into the sands, and as Nico slammed roughly into the surface, everybody was worried to find it digging towards Stella.

"No!"

The serpent burst from beneath Ram's shield, sending it and Stella flipping into the air. Stella's paralysis faded out mid-flight, and she managed to land safely enough to leap aside before the shield collided with her. She quickly drew her pistol and started firing at its eyes; its HP was well into the pale zone, but she wasn't dealing enough damage before it lunged at her.

And halted with its fangs almost around her arm.

Something hot found its way into the collar of Stella's Other Cloak, and she yelped in pain, stumbling back as the sandsnake faded, shimmered, and shattered into light. Win screens popped up while she had a hand down her shirt, showcasing their (rather impressive) EXP gain, and she quickly grasped the offending item and drew it out.

It was a bullet - a bullet that had recently collided with something, of a larger caliber than her pistol could hold - and she barely had time to register it in her mind before it shattered in her grip.

* * *

In time, they managed to find the desert community - the Rise in the Sands, a city ringed by walls and situated on a high dune. Nana explained that it was impossible to try and climb up the walls, with the city's four entrances being positioned on the north, east, south, and west walls; the safe zone, however, extend just beyond the city walls, to the point that if you could put your hand on the wall, you were safe.

"Come with me," she told them as they stepped inside.

"We're not gonna hit the shops first?" Nico asked.

Nana shook her head. "There's a particular place we should hit before we go for equipment."

Confused, the party followed her as she made her way down a suspiciously narrow back alley. There was someone standing at a dead-end with a long jacket, and Nana raised her hand for the others to remain quiet before stepping up and clearing her throat audibly.

The jacket quickly turned around, and spoke with a gruff - and audibly synthesized - voice; "Hey." He grabbed the flaps of his jacket and spread them wide, revealing several bottles lined up on the insides. "Wanna buy a potion?"

An NPC shop menu opened up before him, and Stella couldn't stop herself from laughing aloud. Everyone turned to her as she aimed a finger at the menu. "A back-alley NPC seller?"

"A back-alley NPC seller who sells  _revival items_ ," Nana countered.

Stella's face fell. Ram started. "Wait, what? Already?"

"There's only one other shop in the Otherworld with revival items," Nana admitted, "and it's got the hardest enemies outside of the Field of White." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at the NPC. "This guy sells every healing item in the game - except for a _very_ rare full-party total-heal that's dropped by big things in the Field - but at a premium, which means it's a waste of Ai... for the most part." She turned back and started tapping at the menu. "In this game, revival items are worth it."

"Agreed," the party chorused.

Nana grabbed six revival crystals for their six-man party; then she handed one to each of them for their own inventory to prevent a situation of 'the one carrying revives is the one who needs reviving'. They quickly made their way to the main shops, checking their inventories for monster drops before making any purchases. Weapon upgrades for everyone except Nico, whose two-handed claws were equal to what the store was selling; Ron's boomerang was still outmatching, but only just. The stuff at the armour shop had greater defensive stats than the wolf furs that Stella and Nico were wearing, headwear designed to block the sun, and was designed to prevent one's feet from getting dragged into the sand; after some deliberation, Nana and Acta bought their own sets and decided to keep their dryad armour for after the desert.

They were on their way out of the items shop when a "Hey!" drew their attention; everyone turned to find a man approaching with a rifle and a lance crossed on his back, dressed in the desert's armour set. Stella aimed a finger at him. "Wait, did you...?"

"Oh, so that was you, then?" The man looked surprised.

Acta glanced between them. "What's the story here?"

"I didn't finish off that sandsnake," Stella replied. "That was a bullet the size of my finger." She crossed her index and middle as an indicator before turning back to the sniper. "Did you shoot that thing?"

"I did," the man replied.

"From  _here?!_ " Ron exclaimed.

"No, not from here!" the man defended. "I don't even think bullets will go that far. I was only about two minutes away." He glanced upward at his level. "Wasn't even worth my time, that thing didn't give rewards for shit."

Nana shook her head. "Large monsters like that have a different distribution method," she replied. "Your party gets EXP depending on how much HP damage you deal, and if a single party does more than 50% damage, they get the cash reward entire. Item drops still go to the killing blow, but I've never seen a solitary monster drop anything more than a sellable."

The man sighed. "I suppose that's fair," he admitted.

Ram aimed a finger at the rifle. "A gun like  _that_ is a one-handed weapon?" she asked.

"Only on a technicality," the man replied. "I couldn't move this thing with one arm if my life depended on it. I think it's just to let you have a melee weapon equipped. Buttstrokes have pathetic damage."

Stella glanced at the party listing;  _OSO_ allowed parties of seven. "Hey, you wanna maybe party with us for a bit?" she asked. "We could use a good ranger."

The man shook his head. "I'll pass, but thanks for the offer. You got names?"

"I'm Nana. This is Stella. He's Nico, she's Acta, that's Ron, and this one's Ram."

"I'm Jack."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ending is a hint for readers of the manga. As in, if you've finished the first chapter, you'll recognize something.
> 
> Secret shop in a walled-off desert city, selling something that can otherwise only be obtained with great effort. Ladies and gentlemen, my Zelda influence. Although the effort and secrecy involved are significantly different.


	16. [Ripp/PK]er

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: You know that... THING where a player's vision turns green, and they can kinda-sorta zoom in and see footprint trails and such? I have NO idea how that works, and I'm not even going to bother. As far as this fic is concerned, that's not even a thing and it never has been a thing.

Stella  
Armour: Arabian Night  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Desert Hawk  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Arabian Night  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Sandy Blade  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Arabian Night  
Weapon: Orcish Boomerang  
Weapon: Edge Disc  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Arabian Night  
Weapon: Heavy Hammer  
Weapon: Bark Shield  
Garb: None

Nico  
Armour: Arabian Night  
Weapon: Striped Claws  
Garb: None

Ram  
Armour: Arabian Night  
Weapon: Princely Blade  
Weapon: Princess Shield  
Garb: Other Cloak

"Nico!"

"Ram, now!"

"Come on!"

Stella held her fire, and Ron seized his boomerang on the return as Nico charged the shifting sand - a huge formation of sand a much darker hue than the grains beneath them, currently in a humanoid form from the low state of its HP. Its attempt to swipe at him was leapt over, and he kicked off its arm and dug his claws into its head, using the enemy as leverage to throw himself skyward. Acta and Ram leapt at it from the sides; Ram's arced blade sliced across its torso only moments before Acta's hammer slammed into its shoulder, finishing off the last of its HP with an unpleasant-looking twist. Nico landed with a spin, raising his claws ready; Acta braced her hammer low at her side as she skidded to a stop, and Ram touched down with her blade swung back.

The golem lightened and shattered, and win screens popped up.

Ram sighed, sheathing her blade. "This place is a bit fond of solit-"

A gunshot sounded, and something slammed into her shield in the middle of her motion to hook it on her back - at such a point where it would have struck her head if she hadn't had her shield in the right place. The party started, and Ram glanced down as something tumbled to the sands. A large bullet, which quickly shattered. She quickly lowered her shield and turned in the direction it had come from, seeing several wind wraiths advancing towards someone on a high dune; they couldn't make out much more than a long shape emerging from his back, but the yell of "Sorry!" was in a familiar voice.

"That's Jack," Ron mused. "Guess that rifle's not as accurate as I thought it would be."

"Think we should lend him a hand?" Ram asked.

Another gunshot sounded; one of the wraiths stopped moving, and quickly shattered.

"I think he'll be fine," Nana insisted. "Come on, I saw oasis trees nearby and I took a few more hits than I would like."

They hadn't even made the top of a nearby ridge before the leaves of the trees were visible. Cresting the ridge, however, took their attitude from pleased to worried when they saw what sat around the edge of the oasis - two  **grave markers**. Stella broke into a dash, the rest of the party following suit, and once she was near enough she dropped to one knee to read the inscriptions.

_Wander  
Revive by: EXPIRED_

_Mono  
Revive by: EXPIRED_

"Dammit." Stella pounded her fist against one grave. "Too late."

"Why would the monsters be able to attack them here?" Acta murmured. "This is a healing place, right?"

Nico glanced down at his claws... and then, before anyone could stop him, he brought one down across his leg. A red line was left where it passed, and a small chunk was taken out of his HP. "It's not a safe zone," he observed. "If they were running from a monster, it could have hit them before they made it to the water."

Ron swore deeply. "That's every action gamer's worst nightmare," he muttered. "Two seconds. They were two seconds away. These things heal you by, like, fifty percent! If they could make it this close, they would have been more than safe if they'd had two more seconds!"

Nana stepped forward, kneeling down to set her hand into the water and watching her HP slowly rise; then she turned to the graves. "Small mobs in the desert don't have multi-hitting attacks," she murmured, "and they don't attack in sync like that. A sandsnake would have sent them flying in different directions if it had hit them both. Shifting sands won't come anywhere near the water." She got to her feet and stepped towards the markers. "Graves manifest with the inscription facing the way they were moving," she said firmly. "They weren't coming  _towards_ the oasis... they were  _leaving_ it."

Acta raised her gaze. "You mean... something attacked them while they were on their way out?"

"Not something," Nana realized. "Some **one**. Monsters couldn't do this - not hitting them both so closely. This was a player kill. Somebody hit them both with the same strike."

"What kind of weapon could do that?" Ron asked. "Swords don't move fast enough to sweep them both, one would get out of the way. And players don't have any way to paralyze people."

Nico turned to Stella. "...How much speed does a bullet lose when it goes through someone?"

Stella blinked. "That would... depend on the caliber, I think," she replied, trying to remember what she'd been told about gun mechanics in _Inferno_. "Shattered Star is pretty thorough with that stuff. Pistol bullets don't even go through."

"What about a bullet the size of your finger?" Nico asked.

Stella's eyes widened. "You don't think..."

"Jack," Ram realized. "He shot that sandsnake, he shot my shield. He was _aiming_ for **us**!" She grabbed at her hair. "Oh shit, we almost let a player killer into our party!"

" **I** almost let a player killer into our party," Stella corrected. "We need to..."

Ron quickly dashed back up the ridge they had come down. "Gone," he grumbled. "He finished those wraiths and took off."

Nana shook her head. "Where could he have gone in such a short time?"

Acta glanced around. "We should... we should get back to the Rise," she said quickly. "It's a safe zone, he can't hurt us there."

"Agreed."

* * *

A few wraiths were the only thing they ran into on their way back to the city; none of them let their guard down until they were within the walls. After the usual resupplying, they scoured the city for any sign, but Jack was nowhere to be found.

"That shouldn't be surprising," Ron muttered as they started on their way out of town. "If he's a coward shooting people from a distance, he'll still be out there looking for a target." He shook his head. "What happens when you take out a player? Do you even get anything out of that?"

"I... I don't know," Nana admitted. "I never saw a player kill in the beta. And even then, it wouldn't be the same with the death game."

" _Shadow Hunter_  takes a cut of your Scol when you get taken out," Stella recalled, "and a PK gives that to your killer. If he's doing this because he thinks its richer than going for mons-"

A gunshot sounded; Stella had no chance to react before something slammed into her face. They were still within the city's safe zone, which meant it couldn't do HP damage; rather than a strike of red, a bright flash of white filled her vision, and her head was left spinning as she was knocked to the ground.

Ron reacted. "Stella!"

"No damage," Acta insisted. "We're in the safe zone. Where did that come from?"

A sweeping gaze around the environs caught nothing noticeable. Ron quickly drew his boomerang and hurled it forward; another shot sounded, and the boomerang was knocked off its course and sent flying to one side. A closer look in that direction revealed a figure hunched on the top of a ridge, and when it moved, Ron saw something extending from its back - Jack's lance.

"That bastard," Nico muttered.

Ram knelt next to Stella, who was starting to stir. Dazed and largely incomprehensible murmurings made their way through her lips, and though most of the party couldn't make anything out, Ram seemed to catch enough to reprimand, "Language, please, Stella. And you're screaming at a machine."

Stella groaned, propping herself up slightly. "What just happened?"

"That'll happen in any VRMMO," Nana explained. "You can't take HP damage in a safe zone, but the physics engine still runs. A bullet from a rifle won't penetrate, and that means it's more than enough to daze you. Ears ringing, vision blurred, body feels numb - right? Rapid fire or repeated sword strikes would be enough to knock you unconscious."

"Dammit," Stella murmured, "I'm still seeing spots." She started to rise. "Did you see him?"

"We did," Nico confirmed.

"We need to stop him. We have to go after him."

Ram shook her head. "Please tell me you have some kind of a plan," she insisted, "he's obviously been doing this for a while."

Stella nodded. "I do have a plan."

* * *

The sun was going down that day when Jack found his next targets. A sandsnake was fighting a couple of players - a young boy with a large mace in one hand, and a girl in white who was holding tight to his other. A rapier impaled in the sand about two minutes away from them implied the girl had been disarmed; Jack quickly settled himself down and took aim; his gun had a powerful scope, and with  _OSO_ assuming players would be more concerned about monsters than other players, they hadn't let realism detract from the combat engine.

Like how a bullet would fly.

He centered his scope on the girl being led; the sandsnake tried to bite at them, and the boy released her hand and bashed its eye with his mace, leaving her to keep running. Jack wouldn't get a clean sweep... but that was a small problem.

The trigger was pulled.

Stella heard the gunshot and redoubled her pace. Jack was sitting atop a ridge, with his back to them; she quickly drew her Black Blade, and the player killer still had his back to her when she slammed it into his side. The blow sent him sliding down the ridge, leaving his gun behind, and Stella followed its aim to find a young figure standing between a grave marker and a  _very_ pissed-off sandsnake. Before Jack could stop her, she picked up the rifle, aimed at the sandsnake, and fired, causing it to turn towards her.

"Ram!"

Jack was charging her from the side with his spear; Ron quickly hit him in the fingers with a disc, causing him to pull away, and Ram vaulted the ridge, charging towards the players. The sandsnake was tunneling towards them, and Ram quickly threw her shield to the ground before leaping atop it (and finding the sand surprisingly slideable); sure enough, it tried to rise up beneath her when she passed over it, and having the shield between her and it stopped her from taking damage. Stella fired at the sandsnake to get its attention again, then tossed the rifle to the ground and drew her pistol as she turned to Jack, who was currently in a deadlock with Nana.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Stella snapped. "Do you  **want** to kill these people?!"

"Hell yeah," Jack growled.

Stella blinked. "What!?"

Jack gave her a look. "What kind of a jackass would go for a PK after that announcement at launch if they didn't want to kill somebody?"

"Six Black Blade wielders are dead in the domain of the yellow goddess out of an effort to do just that," Nana replied.

That earned a roll of the eyes from Jack. "Hardcores."

Nico rushed him from the side, driving his claws into the murderer's arms. This caused his lock on Nana's sword to falter; she pulled her left hand off the flat of the blade and drew her knife, jabbing it into his stomach. Stella bashed his fingers with the butt of her pistol, causing him to drop the lance, and Acta slammed her hammer into his chest, throwing him back towards the approaching sandsnake. Jack hit the sand; the snake shot out and knocked him into the air.

Ram leapt off her shield as she neared the grave marker, the boy weeping beside it. She opened her inventory and quickly drew out her revival crystal; then she knelt down beside the grave to check the inscription.

 _Yorda_  
_Revive by: 11min 03sec_

Ram set her crystal against the grave marker, yelling, "Return!" The item shattered in her hand, and a light wrapped the marker; the grave shattered, and in its place appeared a girl in white, catching the boy off guard. With a victorious pump of her fist, she got to her feet with a command of "Stay here!" before charging back towards the sandsnake - and Jack.

Between the fight Jack had interrupted and the shot Stella had fired, the sandsnake was already down to the pale zone; as it buried into the sands, the party disregarded it and went after Jack himself. His weapons lost and his HP half down, he was trying to run; Stella shot at his legs, getting him to stumble, and Ron tossed his boomerang so the arc of its flight would strike him from the side. Ram managed to get close enough to bash him with her shield, and while the damage from that was less-than-stellar, the impact was enough to knock him to the ground.

Nana drove her Black Blade into his right arm.

Stella drove her Black Blade into his left.

Nico jabbed his claws into Jack's legs.

Jack only shook his head, chuckling even as his HP got dangerously close to empty zone. "You think you're any better than me!?" he demanded. "Go ahead, finish me off! You'll just be the same!  _Murderers!_ "

Acta drew out a crystal, and with a command of "Heal!" the party's HP was topped off.

Ron shook his head. "Not murderers," he snapped. "Bystanders."

The sand was shifting; Nico pulled his claws out, and Stella and Nana ripped out their Black Blades as the sandsnake burst from the desert. Six of them tumbled through the air; Jack went still at the peak of his arc, fading out and shattering. A grave marker manifested on the ground immediately beneath him, and Ron righted himself mid-flight to hurl his boomerang at its; the sand snake turned towards him, but Stella landed and started firing from the side, striking it in the eye enough times to finish it off.

The snake faded, shimmered, and shattered; and as the win screens popped up, Stella saw that the killing blow had given her a monster drop. She dismissed the screen all the same, stepping towards the grave marker.

_Ripper  
Revive by: 12min 48 sec_

"Wait," Ron murmured, "his name's not Jack?"

"His  _username_ 's not Jack," Stella observed. "He was going by his real name."

Acta gasped. "That's not Jack... Olie?"

Nana turned to her. "You know about him?"

"He was on the news in our hometown," Nico explained. "He was a killer. They had him in jail for like two days. Then he got out and killed people again."

Ron shook his head. "If they didn't try and take his NervGear off before the announcement, they'd never get away with taking it off after. He would have had free reign until the game ended. There was nothing anyone in the real world could have done about it."

He kicked the grave angrily, and found  _OSO_ allowed it to be knocked over.

"Bastard deserves this."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ICO & Shadow of the Colossus. I couldn't find a good way to reference The Last Guardian.
> 
> [EDITED: Never make mentions to a previously-established time limit by memory, always check your numbers


	17. Storm Tundra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Too many times, I have held on to an elemental weapon for far longer than it was really useful, just in case I came across something weak to it. Sometimes 'weak to' an element meant something like double damage, but when that kicked in, it just barely evened it out with a non-elemental weapon.

_108 Days Since Launch_

Stella  
Armour: Arabian Night  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Desert Hawk  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Willow Mail  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Sandy Blade  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Arabian Night  
Weapon: Orcish Boomerang  
Weapon: Edge Disc  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Willow Mail  
Weapon: Heavy Hammer  
Weapon: Bark Shield  
Garb: None

Nico  
Armour: Arabian Night  
Weapon: Striped Claws  
Garb: None

Ram  
Armour: Gale Robe  
Weapon: Princely Blade  
Weapon: Princess Shield  
Garb: Other Cloak

"Okay, so why did you want to come back to the Plain again?"

After a month in the Sun's Sandsea, Nana had suggested the party head for the tundra on the other side of the Forest Labyrinth. Stella, however, had requested a brief stop in the Plain of Suffering; at Ron's inquiry as they stepped onto the grasses, she opened her menu and tapped to her inventory. "Well... one of the sandsnakes we fought early on dropped this."

She selected something to bring up its details, then turned and flicked at the display to rotate it towards her friends. The weapon was an impressive-looking sword with a wide blade; it seemed from proportions to be a claymore, yet the statistics said it was a one-handed weapon. The blade was black, but had a strange visual effect on the flat of the blade, and there was what seemed to be a coat of arms near the tip (although it was hard to tell at that size). One edge was white, one was a mid-tone grey, and the handle seemed to be connected right to the blade with no hilt as an intermediary. The stats were rather impressive, as well... and there was a symbol by each number that nobody could quite place - a star that looked like it had been sliced diagonally and started to slide off.

The name: Beast Blade.

"That's a huge sword," Acta mused.

"It's got a wide blade, maybe," Ron argued, "but if it's one-handed it's gotta be smaller than it looks."

"It could be like rifles and hammers," Ram argued. "It's only named as a one-handed weapon to let you carry something else with it."

Nana glanced up at Stella. "What's this about?"

"It's got some pretty high-end stats," Stella replied. "But like Ram said, it's most likely one-handed on a technicality. I didn't want to try a whole new fighting style in the Sandsea."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you tell us you had something like this?" he asked. "We could have come and let you have a test run right away."

Stella turned the menu back towards herself. "Well, I didn't want to make you feel weak," she admitted. "When I got it, it had the stats of a Black Blade and a half. So I thought I'd let us all level a bit, maybe get some more monster drops, and once this thing wasn't so outmatching I'd bring it up."

The party exchanged glances. The only drop they'd gotten was Ram's armour set. "Okay," Ram mused, "but that didn't work, so why are you bringing it up now?"

"Because it's  **still** got the stats of a Black Blade and a half."

Everyone started at that; they'd been at Lv 40 after the incident with Jack and were presently Lv 45. "Wait, is that...?" Nana quickly opened her inventory and brought up the details on her Black Blade, and sure enough, there was the same slashed-star symbol. "That's the same mark."

"They don't have stats dependent on your level," Ram recalled, "they alter your stats based on your level. You think that's...?"

"I think so," Stella confirmed. "This thing runs on the same function as a Black Blade... and puts it to shame." She closed the details for the Beast Blade. " _But_... that makes me look really unfair compared to you guys. And with the way the shopkeeps price Black Blades, and the bonus you get from selling monster drops, we could make a  **lot** of Ai by selling this after we've hit all seven regions."

"No way," Acta protested. "That'd be a total waste!"

"Yeah," Nico agreed. "I mean, if it works for you..."

"Agreed," Ron conceded. "If you've got it, use it, right?"

Ram nodded. "Let's give you your test run," she proposed, "and if it works, then you can use it."

Stella turned to Nana, who awkwardly realized she still had her Black Blade details up. "I've got no arguments," she insisted. "Give it a shot."

"Okay."

She tapped the equip option; the Black Blade at her hip vanished, along with the ring it was sheathed in, and upon her back appeared the Beast Blade. The strange visual effect turned out to be the menu's attempt to show translucence on a static image; the black surface of the blade was opaque near the base - which  _did_ have a hilt, albeit of the same width and colour as the blade - but gradually became more transparent towards the tip, though it was never fully unseen. The coat of arms was opaque despite the build of the blade, and it was a beautifully complex thing. A shield with a four-segment checkerboard pattern, and a five-pointed star inverse the colour of its background; a five-pointed crown rested atop the shield, with fleur-de-lis for the center three point. Two stylized sword blades with oversized crossguards emerged from the lower arc of the shield, extending through a twisting pattern beneath.

"Good lady," Acta observed, "it  **is**  a huge sword."

Stella reached her left hand up and grasped the handle. To her surprise, it didn't seem to be sheathed in anything so much as just affixed to her back - and to her further surprise, she had no trouble moving it in one hand, even as she raised it before her.

"How is it?" Nana asked.

"Light," Stella admitted, turning away from her party. She brought the blade into a low swing before her, then arced into a wide spin before slamming it into the ground. "This is... interesting." She made to raise it to her back again. "But how is it...?"

Ron's hand connected with her back, catching her off-guard. "There's something here," he mused. "It looks like it's supposed to be a magnet, or something. The sword must stick to it."

Stella set the blade against the point Ron had touched, and when she released the sword, it remained in place. "Alright," she mused. "Let's give it a test run. Then we'll warp to the Hunter's Village and head for the tundra."

"No hurry," Ram reprimanded. "We'll spend the day here. You make damn sure that thing works."

"Agreed."

* * *

By the time the night had fallen, Stella was damn sure the Beast Blade worked for her; the party warped to Hunter's Village and spent the night at the inn there. The next day found them reaching the cold edge of the labyrinth in short order; a few snowflakes hitting Stella's face before they'd left the trees were enough to get the dialogue box with the briefing to pop up.

 _=Storm Tundra=_  
_The blizzard will blind you, and icy lakes will halt you. Keep your destination in mind._  
_The arctic temperatures of this region will gradually sap your HP without protection. The effect is stronger the closer you are to the center of the storm, and non-existent while you are within buildings or caves._  
_Here in the Storm Tundra, your enemies are ice-elemental. Note that elemental effects from your weapons are purely aesthetic in combat._

"What does it mean, aesthetic in combat?" Ron asked as they closed the dialogue boxes.

"It means that, say, fire will still light a torch," Nana explained, "or ice will freeze water for a while - stuff like that isn't combat."

Acta nodded. "So, like, if we get an ice weapon from a monster drop," she observed, "it'll still do full damage to ice monsters?"

"Yes," Nana admitted, "but it also means that it won't do any  **extra** damage to fire monsters in the volcano."

"Fair trade," Ram argued.

Nico pointed to the snows. "How fast does it drain our HP?"

Nana lowered her gaze. "The checkpoints should still be close to the borders," she replied. "If it's in the same place as the beta test, and nothing lands too much of a hit on us, we can get there without anybody's HP falling into the pale zone. If it's not, we'll scour about that distance from the border, and if we don't find anything we shouldn't blow any more than five party-heal crystals before we get back here. That being said," she added, "let's not be skimpy if the fights go bad. You don't always take damage, but when you do, you drink a potion."

Stella snickered, and everyone turned accusingly to her as she raised a hand to muffle it. "Sorry."

* * *

Ice-elemental enemies turned out be snow constructs for the most part, ranging from humanoid to beastly - although not interchangeable like shifting sands. They didn't have all too many encounters for the first trip, though; to everyone's great relief, the town  _was_ in the same place as the beta test, and as Nana had predicted, those who had avoided taking damage (and thus had not drank potions) weren't too close to the pale zone when it came into view.

Unfortunately, that was also when a high-pitched, monstrous screech sounded from above. Everyone turned to find three small figures in deep blue flying above them - bipedal creatures with leathery wings, scaled bodies, sharp talons, and fanged mouths streaming icy mist.

Nana swore. "Cryo hatchlings!"

"Do we fight?" Ram asked.

"No!" Nana yelled. "Run!" As the party dashed for the town, she opened her menu, invoking a crystal that she quickly activated with a yell of "Heal!"

The HP bars of everyone in the party were pushed into the near-full black zone; Stella and Ram brought up the rear, Ram keeping her shield at the ready and Stella with her Beast Blade over her shoulder. The hatchlings swooped down towards them, and Stella quickly turned, firing her pistol once at each of them before turning back. That was enough to get them flying higher again, but they quickly opened their mouths, each spewing what seemed to be a spiked ball of ice; Ram knocked one aside with her shield, and Stella struck another with her Beast Blade, but the third hit between them and burst with cold mist, dealing them both damage. Stella was only left stumbling, but Ram was abruptly wrapped in frost, and an icon appeared next to her HP bar to show it was a status effect as her momentum from running left her sliding only briefly.

A hatchling dove towards Ram; Stella quickly moved her blade, striking it hard enough to knock it into one of its bretheren. She raised her pistol and fired at the third before it could try to dive, the shot getting the attention of the others - who had almost made it into the safe zone of the checkpoint.

"Dammit, she's frozen," Ron muttered.

Nana groaned at the pitch of one who was only stopped from swearing by the lack of time in which to do so. "You two stay back!" she told Nico and Acta; then she instructed Ron to "Stay as far as you can while you hit them!" before charging forward. Ron dashed after her, and once he was at a range he knew he could hit from, he came to a halt and started tossing his edge discs. Stella was faring well against the hatchlings, but at Nana's command of "Run!" she set her Beast Blade against her back and started dashing. They both grabbed one of Ram's arms and ran, with Stella firing whenever the hatchlings tried to swoop; by the time they hit the safe zone, the hatchlings were finished.

"What _were_ those things, to get you panicking?" Nico asked.

"I'll explain later," Nana insisted. "Come on, we've gotta hit an item shop, I don't think this wears off over time."

One stop later, Ram had been defrosted, and the party quickly stopped at the armour shop for cold-resistant gear. Nana and Acta discovered that it outmatched their dryad armour, while Ram decided to do the 'get the new one, keep the old' strategy; then Nana started explaining things.

"There are dragons both here and in the volcano area," Nana explained, "and the hatchlings are semi-common monsters. The size of the first group is random, somewhere between one and six. If you take out that group instead of running away, then your  _next encounter_  that day is another group of hatchlings, with one less."

Stella realized that perhaps they shouldn't have finished them off. "...What happens when you take out a solo hatchling?"

Nana saw her expression. "If you run away from your second group, that resets it," she assured. "It's possible to run into other monsters without jumping on someone else's fight, and your next group of hatchlings is random again. And when midnight strikes, that'll reset it, too. But if you take out a solo hatchling, then you _immediately_  get into a fight with a grown dragon."

"How bad are the grown dragons?" Acta asked.

"By my estimates," Nana replied, "you can't encounter them normally until Lv 90."

"Holy shit," Acta spat.

Ron groaned. "Did you ever survive a fight with those in the beta?" he asked.

"Once," Nana confirmed. "A little sending-off raid on the last week of the test, since we hadn't found any of the goddesses. We had ten parties of five banding together in the volcano, everybody was about Lv 40. Six HP bars, area attacks the size of a town, a tail long enough to throw you up the mountainside, and it can  _fly_. High enough that if you let go, the fall damage will kill you on its own. We blew two hundred revivals and still only came out of it with three players. Whoever designed the hatchling lure was a monster  _before_ this was a death game."

"Jeez," Ram groaned, "that's just mean."

Stella sighed. "Let's run from the hatchlings from now on," she proposed.

Nana angled her head. "Actually, the hatchlings have some pretty rich EXP rewards," she admitted, "for their difficulty. But don't get cocky. We do  _not_ fight groups of two or one. I know this sounds weird, but the larger a group, the safer."

* * *

"What's this, now?"

Ron was the first to make it into the weapons shop, and seemed amused at what he found on the listing. "Who named these things?" he asked.

"Are you really going to pass up on a weapon behind because it's got a weird name?" Ram accused.

"Well, look at them," Ron insisted. "This is a throwing weapon called Orange Smile."

Stella gasped. "Wait, what? Let me see that."

Her quickly approached had Ron stepping away far enough to dismiss the menu. She quickly tapped the counter to prompt its appearance for herself. A throwing weapon called Orange Smile; a projectile weapon called Blue Tear; expendable weapons named Pink Fever and Purple Haze; and a revolver called Red Rage. "This... these are references to  _The Little Bird of Many, Many Colours_ ," she explained.

"Isn't that a children's book?" Ram accused.

Stella closed her eyes. "Something like that."

Ron decided not to make any more mockery, and purchased the throwing weapon and a stock of projectiles; Stella bought a few of the expendables before purchasing a revolver, quickly equipping it and drawing it out.

_Mato..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You cannot keep a straight face when you are making a reference to a webcomic making reference to an advertisement. At least not when you are aware of the second level.


	18. Graveyard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's funny, I say I'm probably going to stop updating, and then I get out a chapter per day with one date's delay.

Stella  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Weapon: Red Rage  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Ring of Hurt  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Orange Smile  
Weapon: Blue Tear  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Crystal Hammer  
Weapon: Bark Shield  
Garb: None

Nico  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Warrior Claws  
Garb: None

Ram  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Twin Plate  
Weapon: Twin Plate  
Garb: Other Cloak

"Why  _two_ shields?"

Ram shrugged in response to Acta's question. "I was confused, because these ones have offensive stats," she explained. "I thought shields were just in the weapons slot to make sure you can have either a shield or another weapon." The shields in question - dark grey things with blades along the outside edges - each had a hook of their own on her hip, in contrast to her past plates having hooks on her back (usually over her sword sheaths). "These ones are actual weapons, so I figured I'd just go for doubles, and it turns out if you equip two of these, each gets an extra half for the offensives."

"So you're just gonna be punching things with your shields until we hit the other checkpoint?" Nico asked.

"The other checkpoint sells the same weapons," Nana explained.

"So you're just gonna be punching things with your shields until we go to the volcano?" Nico corrected.

Ram shook her head. "I'm not going to get a new weapon unless it's got a stronger offensive than these when I've got  _both_ of them," she insisted. "Then maybe I'll get that and a shield for pure defensive."

Stella sighed, glancing out the gate of the checkpoint. "First thing we run into will be cryo hatchlings," she recalled. "Do  **not** fight them."

* * *

Once they'd run from the first pair of hatchlings, the day's fights went rather well. In addition to the snow constructs from the trip to the first checkpoint, they found some encounters with what appeared to be miniature mammoths ('miniature' in this case meaning the size of bears), as well as a solitary creature that seemed to be a giant golem made of ice - whose defeat provided some very rich-looking sellables - and as Nana had claimed, large groups of cryo hatchlings provided some well-earned EXP.

"You know," Ron observed as they walked away from an encounter of three (after having already taken out groups of five and four), "I'm suspicious because a lot of these things look like they could be made fire-elemental without too much trouble."

"Clever boy," Nana mused half-jokingly. "Yeah, snow and ice are pretty easily reformatted into lava and rock. Let's get some good practice in here, it'll do us favours in the volcano."

"That seems a little bit lazy," Acta accused, "don't you think?"

"I prefer to think of it as not punishing people who see heat and cold and choose one or the other," Nana countered.

A screech revealed an encounter of two had already found them. Deciding not to try their luck, the party quickly started running; this time nobody ended up taking a freeze from their projectiles, although Stella had a feeling their cold-resistant equipment made them less likely to get frozen. It didn't take them long to arrive at a small cave, and once they were inside, the dragons gave a hateful screech before flying off.

Nico looked. "What is this place?" he asked. "A safe zone?"

"More of a landmark," Nana corrected. "It shelters us from the blizzard, but enemies can still fight us. Dragon hatchlings just don't like enclosed spaces."

"This is a bit deep to just be a landmark," Stella observed. "Look, there's torches." She raised her Red Rage and fired; the revolver launched small bursts of flame, and when a shot collided with a torch, it ignited, shining light slightly deeper into a cave. "This must link to something."

"I..." Nana cut herself off, remembering how different the final game had been from the beta test thus far. "Well, there's a cave network in the volcano," she admitted. "Might be they added something to this place. This might link to another cave on the other end of the tundra."

Acta hoisted her hammer over her shoulder. "Let's find out!"

* * *

Outside of the entrance, the cave's torches were sparse - and, as they found out, secured to the walls. Fortunately, a shot from a Red Rage lingered for a bit after it hit the walls or floor of the cave, providing ample light when the torches wouldn't reach them; Stella led the way as they made their way down a spiral slope.

"This is so weird," Ron muttered. "I thought you said  _OSO_ doesn't do the dungeon thing."

"It doesn't," Nana insisted. "What is this thing?"

Stella came to a halt, causing the rest of the party to do the same; the cavern had reached a suspiciously wide-open space. The same thought rumbled through all of them, and Ram was the one who voiced it; "This looks like the room for a boss fight."

"Yeah," Stella agreed, holstering her revolver. "But that doesn't..."

She opened her menu, tapping to her inventory; Nico grabbed her arm when a purple cylinder appeared in her hand. "What are you doing?"

"A Purple Haze only activates when it's hit by an attack or gets close to a monster," Stella explained. Once Nico let go of her, she tossed it forward; it clattered weakly inside, and no detonation was caused. "And that means there's nothing here."

"There's torches there," Acta observed, pointing to the nearby holsters. "Could you light one?"

Stella drew her Red Rage and fired at the nearest torch. That got a reaction; torches lit up all around the room, revealing what was inside. Grave markers - several dozen player grave markers, scattered about the room. Everyone recoiled at the sight, and Stella lowered her revolver worriedly. "There  _is_ something in here," she realized. "A trap? Or..."

Stone slamming against stone drew their attention; from the ceiling of the passage they had come through, rock walls were dropping down to bar their way. Each was closer than the last; the party inadvertently stepped back, into the room, as the last one slammed down flush with the torch-lit walls, and everyone went for their weapons.

"What the hell?" Ram demanded.

"I'm gonna sue the devs when this game is over," Nana growled. "Why the hell is curiosity something an MMO needs to punish?"

"I think it's more a survival thing," Nico observed. "You last long enough, and..."

A hiss drew Stella's attention, and she turned to find her Purple Haze had landed near the opposite wall of the room - and was currently ejecting its violet smoke. She jabbed Ron's shoulder with her elbow to get his attention, and everyone turned as an HP bar appeared, slowly depleting... against the wall.

That wall  **shifted** ; two eyes were painted upon it, and its surface opened up to form a threatening mouth.

"Son of a-!"

Tiles upon the floor began to spin, rising from the ground wherever the graves didn't block them. Once they were high enough, they shot forward; Ram quickly stepped to the front of the party and raised her shield, tanking the blows from the attacker, and Ron hurled one of his Blue Tears at the wall. It collided with the surface, but the HP damage being dealt by the mist was unhastened; a strike to the eye likewise had no effect, and tossing one into its mouth did nothing as the haze faded. Nico tried to drive his claws into the wall nearby, but got no result; Acta striking it with her hammer caused the face to wince, but didn't do any HP damage.

Stella groaned, opening her inventory again. "Stupid. Stupid! They're not punishing curiosity - they're punishing a lack of preparation!"

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"Expendable weapons," Stella replied. "They're useless, right? I mean, if you get it dropped by an enemy, might as well use it, but why spend your Ai on it? At least you can pick up your projectiles, but a grenade is gone once it blows. You're better off buying a sword."

A Pink Fever appeared in her grip, and she pressed the indent on its surface to prime it.

"But you don't break a building with your sword."

She wound back and hurled the bomb forward; it arced through the air and into the wall's mouth. When the explosion sounded, it was all but unseen within, and a chunk fell off of its HP bar.

"Nice throw," Nana praised.

Ron growled when he saw the HP damage stop; about a seventh down, including the damage from the Purple Haze. "How many more of those pinks do you got?"

"Five," Stella admitted.

"What about the purple ones?" Acta asked. "Maybe it'll do more damage if you get that in its mouth!"

The wall seemed to roar at them, and the spent tiles upon the ground suddenly reappeared.

"I hope so."

* * *

A party of three Black Blade wielders were on their way across the tundra when an  _earthquake_ seemed to rock the snows. The trio fell back-to-back, but it wasn't an enemy; a large section of the ground seemed to collapse in on itself, causing the snow to pit. Figures shifted in the snow, and the first to burst out was a girl in an Other Cloak, with short and messy red hair; a large sword was propped on her back, and a red revolver holstered at her hip. As five others popped out of the snow like daisies, the girl scrambled to solid ground.

One of the swordsmen laughed, earning a glare. "What did you noobs do to make the-"

Stella saw his HP gauge was full and drew her Beast Blade, slashing at his leg. The swordsman stumbled back, and the bar dropped to half; the party all pulled away, and that was a good thing, because she was _not_ in the mood to deal with hardcores' attitude right now.

"Son, just don't."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not detailing the fight because the written form of a tank blocking repetitive attacks and a single party member dealing damage is BORING.
> 
> I referenced Team ICO in Chapter 16, and I recently discovered that Shadow of the Colossus is getting a high-end remake. This time I probably -will- be gone for a while, I need to give some giants a sword to the brain.


	19. Hell Mountain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fourth consecutive round through Shadow of the Colossus (very glad I was able to do that, I thought I had deleted my save data). Got all the Normal mode time attack items... on my third, I think Took down all sixteen colossi, plus I finally climbed to the top of the shrine. Time on my post-game save: 5:59:36.
> 
> I feel so awesome right now. And kinda stupid for saying I was gonna need a delay. I'm still not gonna guarantee daily chapters from here on out, though, things are about to get kinda hectic.

_132 Days Since Launch_

Stella  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Weapon: Red Rage  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Mammoth Lance  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Orange Smile  
Weapon: Blue Tear  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Ice Mail  
Weapon: Crystal Hammer  
Weapon: Bark Shield  
Garb: None

Nico  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Ranger Claws  
Garb: None

Ram  
Armour: Gale Robe  
Weapon: Twin Plate  
Weapon: Twin Plate  
Garb: Other Cloak

"Same stats, but different look..."

When the party had finally made it to the second checkpoint in the Storm Tundra, they had been amused to find that there was  **one** difference in weapon selections: a different pair of claws with the exact same stats. Nico - against the advice of the rest of the party - had bought a pair and kept his old, and his observation as they stepped out into the Sun's Sandsea, en route to the volcano, only earned Nana's shrug. "How is it different from monster drops having the same stats as a shop's weapon?" she asked. "You shouldn't have wasted your Ai."

Nico swung his claws forward in the air; these ones were two-pronged, unlike the four-pronged ones he'd gotten at the first checkpoint. "These might be useful if we run into any more hardcores with ideas," he defended. "I could trap a guy on the wall by putting these around his arm like..." He punched forward with one hand.

The claws shot out of his gauntlets, skimmed across Ron's arm to take out a sliver out of his HP, and continued through the air; after an awkward, silent moment, the claws reappeared on his gauntlets.

"...So that's why it says 'Ranger'," Acta observed.

"I guess so," Nico observed.

"Watch where you're swinging those," Ron reprimanded.

"I will."

It didn't take them long after that to make it to the edge where the desert met the volcano. Ash rained down upon the barren stone, even slightly beyond the borders; just as a snowflake to the face had been enough to brief them on the tundra, a few ash flakes landing in Stella's hair caused a dialogue box to appear.

 _=Hell Mountain=_  
_There are two faces to a volcano; the ashen slope, and the cave system below._  
_The blazing temperatures of this region will quickly drain your HP without protection. The effect is stronger when you are closer to the lava. Wherever in the caves the magma does not flow, the heat will not harm you._  
_The enemies of Hell Mountain are fire-elemental on the slope and earth-based in the caves. Note that elemental effects from your weapons are purely aesthetic in combat._

"That said quickly," Acta observed as they dismissed the boxes. "The tundra said gradually."

Nana pursed her lips. "It was like that in the beta, too. It  **can** get faster if you wander too close to the lava lakes or the mountain peak. But with all the other changes, I'm not sure the damage at the edge is going to be similar..."

Stella spoke up. "Give me sixty seconds," she insisted.

"Wait,  _Stella!_ "

She stepped out off of the desert sands, standing out in the heat. After a moment, her HP began to drop, and she was pleased to find it was indeed no faster than the tundra had been; she turned back to her party to find they had come to the same conclusion and were stepping on to join her.

"The community's underground," Nana mused. "Something that complicated, I bet you two hundred Ai they left alone."

"Okay," Ram agreed, "you're on."

* * *

Stella was amused to find that the underground cave system was built like a classic RPG dungeon, with several interconnected rooms, in order to clearly isolate 'where the magma flowed' from where it didn't; the room weren't separated from traditional doors, but by stone segments in the walls that could be rolled aside to provide passage, and Nana showed them that a room with magma on the other side would leave the segment hot to the touch. Owing to the divided region, the monsters weren't too widely varied down here - tribal-like stone statues wielding various weapons, with a few giant earthworms to spice things up.

To everyone's great confusion, passing through one divided put the party at the edge of an underground  _lake_ , with a shore that circled the chamber. Nana paused for a moment, hands spread slightly in a 'wha?' motion; then she opened her menu, and tapped the number that showed her Ai, causing a counter to appear before her. A few clicks quickly provided a value of 200, which she tapped to cause a bag to appear in her hand, and without a word, she held it out to Ram.

"This wasn't here in the beta test?" Ram asked, accepting the bag and tapping it to add the Ai count to her own.

"This wasn't  **down** here in the beta test," Nana insisted. "I spent way too long in these caves and I never ran into anything like this. I thought the differences in the rooms this far were just aesthetics, but now I have no excuse."

Ron glanced at the lake's dark surface, confused. "You mean there weren't  _any_ lakes down here?"

Nana shook her head. "There weren't lakes anywhere in the Otherworld," she confirmed, turning to face the group. "I mean, unless you count those icy ones in the Tundra. Most of us  _didn't_ count those icy ones in the Tundra." Her gaze fell.

"I remember someone complaining about water that cold being no place for... aquatics..."

Ram was the one who reacted first, drawing her bladed shields and dashing between Nana and the lake. Three humanoid figures shot out of the water - they looked similar to the dryads of the Forest Labyrinth, but they had long blue hair instead of short-cropped orange, and dresses of leaves had been traded for tight-fitting outfits that looked like stargrass. They still had the same claws as their woodland cousins, though; Ram quickly met a blow on one of her shields and slammed the edge of the other into its body, knocking it back. Stella quickly drew her Red Rage and fired at another, and Ron hurled a few Blue Tears into the third before Acta slammed it with her hammer and threw it down the shore.

Nana drew her Black Blade and a short spear dropped from a mammoth; the tusk head was broad enough to catch a claw swipe from the one Stella had shot before she slashed it with her sword, quickly followed by a blow from Stella's Beast Blade. Nico fired his claws at the one Ram was locked with, causing her to duck and give him an opening to slash at it; he was mildly concerned when it dealt less damage than the shots both immediately before and immediately following, and Ram quickly swiped at its neck with her shields to finish it off; then she charged at the one Stella and Nana were fighting, prompting Nico to start firing his claws at the one Acta had launched - and was chasing after.

It didn't take long after that to take them out; the win screens popped up, and Nana cursed under her breath. "Stupid," she muttered. "Can't believe I let my guard down like that. Anybody get a drop?"

Ron groaned. "Don't tell me this armour's that grass bodysuit."

"Are you really gonna pass up on better armour because it looks bad?"

The voice from behind caught Stella off-guard; her Red Rage slipped from her grip, and she turned to face the speaker. The blonde hair she saw was in a different state than she thought it would be - although she would admit the 'ponytail and side bangs' style was something she had never seen in  **any** game - but she recognized its sheen, as well as the face beneath it, for few VRMMOs allowed a player to change their facial structure; similarly did she recognize the use of a pair of ranged weapons, although these were pistols rather than crossbows.

" _Kaede?_ "

Her own voice seemed to spark a recognition in the newcomer - or rather,  **one** of the newcomers, for Kaede was at the head of a party of four that had come in behind them while they were fighting the naiads. "Stella? You ended up in  _OSO_ , did you?"

"As did you," Stella realized.

"Who's this?" Acta asked. "An old boyfriend?"

If Stella thought the developers of the NervGear had cut any corners with the full-dive technology, those thoughts were quashed when she and Kaede both  **blushed** a deep crimson out of embarrassment. "Th-That's not..."

"We've met up in a few games before," Kaede explained. " _Pacifist Nation_.  _Hanafuda House_. Never thought we'd both be playing a game like this, though."

Nico aimed a finger at Kaede's HP bar, next to which was an unfamiliar sigil. "What's that emblem?"

"Guild mark," explained a girl in the back. She was rather pale, with black hair cropped short in the back but left longer up front; at her hips were holstered a pair of knives. "When you join a guild, everyone knows it."

Ron turned to Nana. "Why didn't you tell us  _OSO_ had guilds?"

"It never came up!" Nana defended. "We don't even have a whole party yet, why would we need to make a guild?"

"You can't do shared inventory in just a party," argued the girl. "We're just us four, but it's easier to be able to share things."

"How about some introductions?" Stella insisted. "I'm Stella. This is Nana, Ron, Acta, Nico, and Ram."

"Hanako," the girl replied. "This is Let," - a boy with short silver hair, with a lance on his back and a shield on his arm - "and she's Cecil." Her hair was a brighter blonde than Kaede's, done in beautiful braids that rested before her shoulders; an axe was hooked on her back, and a knife on her leg. "Our guild's the Stagnant Souls."

Ron blinked. "Stagnant...? That's a bit... ominous, don't you think?"

Let shook his head. "We don't want to change who we are because of this game," he insisted. "If we treat it like just any other online game, we'll... we won't treat others like  _people_. But if we let that danger weigh us down, we're gonna be depressed... and that's not doing anything for anyone." He held out his hand. "So we'll stay the way we were when we logged in. Like a stagnant pool in a river."

"Doesn't water get ugly if it doesn't flow?" Stella asked.

"Shut up."

* * *

The Stagnant Souls had already been to the community in the underground tunnels; Stella's party was happy to let them lead the way, albeit a bit frustrated after one too many wrong turns into magma rooms. Much like the guild's, the town's name - the Circle of Hell \- was much more ominous than it should have been, for the NPCs kept a lively atmosphere. A side effect of being underground meant that it was hard to tell what time it was; the two parties were rather concerned to realize it was nearly midnight as they stepped out of the armour shop.

"Let's grab a few rooms at the inn," Cecil offered, "it's on us. To make up for the bad trip."

"The trip wasn't that bad," Stella insisted.

Cecil raised an eyebrow. "Are you really going to pass up on a free night?"

Stella scoffed. "Of course not."

The ten players made their way to the inn; once the rooms had been purchased, they were all happy to call it a night. The Stagnant Souls had been getting shared rooms since the game started as a money-saving venture, and though that was unnecessary this far away from the Plain of Suffering, a little extra Ai was never a bad thing; Let and Cecil took one room, and Kaede and Hanako took another.

Hanako made sure to lock the door before turning to their party leader.

"So you're her old  **boy** friend, are you?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It strikes me that Asuna's beautiful long hair means that part of a NervGear's 'pat-down body scan' includes checking your hair length. I included jokes about hair reads back in Chapter 4, so... let's just say that that was an oversight in Otherworld's engine.


	20. Stagnation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was way happier than I probably should have been to see that last Death Battle win.
> 
> Made some edits to the last chapter because I noticed I had missed some of the Stagnant Souls' weapons. Couldn't find a way to include that party in the briefing and still make it look good.

Stella  
Armour: Flame Robe  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Weapon: Red Rage  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Flame Robe  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Mammoth Lance  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Flame Robe  
Weapon: Orange Smile  
Weapon: Blue Tear  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Flame Robe  
Weapon: Crystal Hammer  
Weapon: Bark Shield  
Garb: None

Nico  
Armour: Flame Robe  
Weapon: Warrior Claws  
Garb: None

Ram  
Armour: Flame Robe  
Weapon: Twin Plate  
Weapon: Twin Plate  
Garb: Other Cloak

"How come all the weapons are the same?"

Acta's complaint as they stepped into the weapons shop in the Circle of Hell only earned a shake of the head from Nana. "The north Blizzard Checkpoint is closer to the last region than this place is," she explained, "but the south one is further away. So they balance it out. Like I said, not punishing the people who choose between hot and cold."

"Guess I should've been suspicious when the armour had the same stats, just a different resistance effect," Ron observed.

Stella sighed. "You said there were dragons around here too, right?" she asked. "What do you say we find a fast track to the surface and grind some hatchlings?"

Nana shook her head. "I'd prefer to stick around down here," she requested. "Get a good feel for what goes where."

"Fair enough," Nico ceded.

* * *

Unfortunately, travelling underground to arrive at the Circle of Hell proved to cause more problems than it solved. The underground region was a maze that put the Forest Labyrinth to shame; at least in the wood, you could see where the sun was above you and use that as reference. The separated chambers made it hard to keep track, the magma rooms were so hot as to distort the air in ways the desert could only dream of, and there wasn't just _one_ underground lake. Everyone agreed by the end of the first day that when they left for the Otherworld's last region, they would be going from the Storm Tundra.

"What **is**  the last region, anyways?" Ram inquired as they arrived back at the Circle.

"Come on," Nana insisted. "I gotta leave you guys  _some_ surprise, don't I?"

"I'm getting the feeling that you only say that because it was a  _pleasant_ surprise," Stella accused.

"Oh, decidedly."

They stopped at the item shop to restock and were on their way back to the inn when they noticed a familiar trio of figures charging into town. Let, Hanako, and Cecil all seemed out of breath as they came to a stop; Ron was the first one to approach them, prompting the others to do the same. "Guys? What happened with you?"

Let raised his gaze. "Stupid," he muttered. "We were  _stupid_. There's this four-way intersection in the caves that leads straight to a dead-end. When we got back to the cross-point, a rockfall came down."

"Me and Let went one way," Cecil explained. "Hanako went another. The way this place winds, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but... I think Kaede's in the dead end."

Stella swore, turning on her heel and charging towards the cave they'd come in from; Ron made to grab her arm and missed by a moment, yelling, "Stella, what-!?"

"Bombs, remember!?" Stella insisted. "If it's built like that thing in the tundra, I can get him out of there!"

"Right!"

Ron led the dash after her, prompting Hanako to turn to them. "What the hell are you thinking!?" she demanded. "You're gonna go diving hell-knows-where to find him? This place is a freaking maze, you can't expect to get to that one place! We don't know for sure he's still there! Or that he's still  **alive!** "

" _You_ know that he's alive," Nana reprimanded, "he'll still be on your guild list. And if he's not there, then we can still set up a warning to make sure players know!" 

They didn't waste time with further discussion; Stella dashed out of the Circle, and her party followed.

* * *

It was nearly midnight by the time the group of six found any sign of what they were looking for - a prominent, and decidedly deliberate, four-way intersection in the cave, with the paths at right angles that had Ram muttering, "Well, this isn't subtle at all."

"Wait," Acta murmured, "wouldn't this be where the rockslide is supposed to be?"

"It must be on a timer," Nico mused. "The rockslide disappears if you wait long enough. Or maybe like that tundra cave, where it opens if you..."

He fell quiet, but everybody's thoughts had already filled in the blanks;  _it opens_ _if you die_.

Ram glanced up at the ceiling; there was a hole over the point where the paths met. "...They said the rockslide happened when they came back from the dead end," she observed.

Stella glanced down the paths; none of them particularly looked like dead ends, but it was possible Let's description meant that one reached a dead-end chamber rather than actually coming to a halt. "I don't suppose  _OSO_ has dice, and one of you grabbed a pack when I wasn't paying attention," she mused halfheartedly.

"They obviously didn't expect this to be a death game," Nana reprimanded. "If a player wanted to gamble, they'd go to  _Hanafuda House_."

"Dice work as a decision-maker too," Stella insisted.

"Oh, please," Ron insisted, "we don't need that." He drew one of his Blue Tears and knelt in the middle of the intersection; the build of the blade meant the tip and grip were raised off the ground when it was set down evenly, and he quickly twisted it into a spin. After a moment, it came to a stop, pointing to the right from the way they come. "We'll go down that way, and work counter-clockwise."

With a nod, Stella started to lead the way down; the others made to follow when a yell of "Wait!" drew their attention. The Stagnant Souls were charging down the tunnel after them, and as the party made to greet them, Stella passed a ornate - and surprisingly dark - crystal on the wall down her path.

That passing caused it to light up; and in the intersection, the entire floor seemed to drop slightly, and the cave started to shake.

Let swore, and quickly yelled, " **RUN**!"

Nico and Acta dashed away opposite where Stella was, while Ron leapt in the direction of the Souls. The hip-mounted state of Ram's shields had given her a different center of balance than a back-mounted sword and shield; although she had gotten used to it for normal travel, the sudden tremor had her stumbling, and Cecil quickly charged forward and tackled her out of the intersection before a rain of stones fell from the hole ceiling.

Stella cursed when she saw that she had ended up in the very dead-end they were trying to avoid. When the dust cleared, the rockslide was surprisingly tight to the corners, although the main structure of the slide had enough gaps that a well-placed jolt would knock it out of line. She quickly opened up her menu; she had started carrying a much larger supply of Pink Fevers after the animated room in the tundra, and she grabbed one in her right hand and made to prime it before realizing that the animated room had still been a  **monster**.

 _I don't know if this one detonates without a nearby enemy,_ she observed. After a moment, she switched it to her left hand and drew her Red Rage, intending to shoot it once it was near the rockslide. A press of her thumb primed the explosive, and she tossed it forward and quickly fired; unfortunately, she wasn't as adept at throwing left-handed, and expecting the same arc caused the blast of fire to pass under the bomb and hit the rockslide itself.

Immortal Object

"Huh!?"

Then the Pink Fever connected, and these ones  _did_ detonate on contact instead of from proximity; Stella had underestimated the size of the blast, and the strike sent her flying back. She slammed into the wall head-first before the HP damage was done being dealt; the physics engine kicked in, and the blow was enough to knock her unconscious.

* * *

The blast was visible from any side of the rocks, yet the explosion seemed to make no noise. The reason became apparent to Ram when an Immortal Object warning appeared on the stone formation; the rockslide barrier was registered by the game's engine as a newly-appeared wall, through which sound couldn't pass without a very high listening skill. She swore, getting to her feet and inadvertently pushing Cecil off of her. "Dammit, Stella's still behind that."

"It wasn't here when you got here," Cecil observed. "That means it should fade out in a while."

"We figured that part out," Ram insisted. "But we don't know  _how_ long it'll take to fade out. It took us a few hours to get here, it had to have taken you something similar to get to the Circle from here."

Cecil sighed. "Okay, you've got a point there. So, what are you going to do?"

Ram promptly seated herself against the stones. "I am going to sit here, and wait."

"You're not serious," Cecil reprimanded.

"I am most absolutely serious," Ram insisted. "You three came running back to the Circle, and when you got here, this thing was gone. Assuming Kaede was, in fact, back there, and hadn't gone down the third safe path, he's undoubtedly free and already coming after you. We already know this thing fades over time, so now we're just going to wait until it does so."

An expression of befuddlement decorated Cecil's face; then she sighed, lowering her hands.

"Wow, you really are stupid."

Ram saw her move and quickly did the same; Cecil's axe was heavier, and took longer to swing than it took Ram to pull her shields from her hips and raise them to meet it. Her back to the rockslide gave her the leverage to get to her feet and force the Stagnant Soul back. "What the hell...?"

Cecil braced her axe two-handed, out to the side for a wide swing. "Stella knows Kaede, but the rest of you haven't known any of us for two days," she reprimanded. "Why would you come all the way out here because  _we_ told you he was in trouble?"

"Because we're not assholes," Ram insisted. "We're all players of  _OSO_ , we're all trying to get through this!"

"How presumptuous."

"What!?"

Cecil raised one hand from her axe. "The Otherworld is isolated. One thousand inhabitants. Eight regions with their own aesthetics. Hunting, gathering, survival - and adrenaline that only survival can provide. Why would we give this up? To go back to the  _real world?_ " She said the term like she was disgusted with it. "That is a world where life can be taken by something as mundane as another person not paying attention. Where a man can be killed such that there is no amount of swift action that can bring him back. Where _any_  death is final, and irrevocable... and warps the people around you."

There were tears in her eyes as she said this.

"In this Otherworld, I feel more alive... than I ever did when I really was."

* * *

Immortal Object

"Son of a bitch..." Ron got to his feet, glaring as the notice faded from the rockslide. "So much for Stella's bomb-blast strategy."

"That's not good," Let muttered. "That's  _not_ good. Now what do we do?"

Ron shook his head. "We wait," he insisted. "It'll fade out over time. It did already."

Let groaned. "I was afraid this was gonna happen," he admitted. "When Stella mentioned something in the tundra, I wasn't sure what she was talking about. You guys ran into a monster of some kind, didn't you? That's a whole 'nother problem compared to a rockslide. I tried to stop you..." He scoffed, shaking his head. "And look where that got me. You're split up just like we were." He turned back to Ron. "If we've gotta wait, I don't suppose you know anything we can do?"

The sound of a blade being drawn.

"You can hold still."

Neither Let nor Ron had any chance to react before a pair of blades slammed into Let from behind - and _emerged from his chest_. Ron started, going for his Orange Smile; Let made to step off the blades, only for Hanako to drive a knee into his back and force him to the ground, twisting the knives to deal further damage. Let's HP was rapidly descending into the pale zone as he demanded, "What are you doing!?"

"You were never the type to sit back and watch," Hanako growled. "Give me that."

One hand released a knife, seizing the shield on Let's arm, and she quickly ripped it off; then she released the other and drove a foot into it, the shift of the blade knocking off the last bit of Let's HP. Ron had no chance to react before he faded, shimmered, and shattered into pieces, and Hanako got to her feet as a grave marker appeared in its place.

 _Let_  
_Revive by: 13min 00sec_

Ron quickly opened his menu. "What was that for!?"

"The world is ruled by power," Hanako insisted. "It's true in that one, it's true in this one." She took Let's shield and strapped it onto her arm before opening her own menu. "I've spent  **way** too long getting treated like dirt because I don't have the right kind of power. So when I got here, I found the greatest power I could. A party of two - Kaede and Cecil. And after me, the next ones to join up were a brother and sister - Let and Io."

"Io...?"

"The five of us made a guild. Stagnant Souls. We won't let _OSO_ change us. But then we got to the Sandsea. And we ran into someone." Hanako looked at Ron over her menu. "Some people call him a jackass. I prefer to think of him as an ass named Jack."

"Ripper," Ron realized.

Hanako scoffed. "His user ID is Ripper?" she asked incredulous. "Talk about your ego." She shook her head. "Jack was killing for a while before we showed up. He took out Io. We didn't have anything to bring her back with, then. And Let has been absolutely  _idiotic_ since she died. He had this brilliant idea that we should go and find the goddesses. _Ourselves_."

Ron remembered the last time they'd seen a goddess. "Tell me you didn't-!"

"We didn't," Hanako assured him. "But that idea? To take on the five goddesses of Otherworld, the four of us? They're the final quest of the game. We're not about to fight NPCs like that until we have power enough to overcome them."

She tapped an item on her equipment, and a Black Blade appeared at her hip. Ron glared, tapping back a screen on his own menu. "And you think you can get power by killing other players?"

"You get EXP for it," Hanako warned. "It doesn't give you a win screen, but you can still level up like that."

"And you think that automatically makes it more effective than strength in numbers?" he demanded.

Hanako shook her head. "Strength  **is** numbers. In a virtual world, everything is decided by numbers. Two people at Level 80 can get more done than fifty people at Level 16."

"What about a fifty people at Level 80?" Ron demanded.

"Yeah, fifty people are gonna work together in a huge boss fight," Hanako snarked.

"It happened in the beta test," Ron accused.

"Oh, the  _beta testers_ ," Hanako growled. "Those assholes are worse than nothing. They act like they're a divine gift to  _OSO_ , like they know everything!"

"You've run into the worst of the worst," Ron reprimanded. "And now you've gone and painted them all with the same brush."

Hanako drew her Black Blade. "Enough talk," she snapped. "I'm taking you down."

Ron tapped something on his menu, and his Orange Smile vanished; at his hip appeared his own Black Blade.

"You can try."

* * *

When Stella opened her eyes again, she was not in the rockfall intersection. She was lying in a wide-open cavern; she quickly shot upright, finding herself staring at one of the rolling doors that separated chambers in the tunnels. A yelp from behind drew her attention, and she turned to find the very person she had come looking for had been sitting behind her.

"Kaede!"

"Morning, sleeping beauty," Kaede snarked.

Stella rolled her eyes. "How long have I been out?"

"Just a couple minutes," Kaede insisted. "We're still in the dead-end. I was coming out when I saw your bomb go off. Wish I'd noticed the rockslide was gone sooner."

"That makes ten of us," Stella admitted. She quickly reached up and seized the handle of her Beast Blade to assure herself it was still there; she wasn't sure how much she trusted the 'magnet' it used instead of a sheath. "Is there nothing to fight back here?"

Kaede sighed. "If there was, I wouldn't have lasted long. At my level, the game starts assuming you're in a party."

Stella gave a nod of her head. "You can't blame it," she admitted, getting to her feet.

"Woah, careful," Kaede insisted, standing up quickly.

"I'm fine," Stella reprimanded. "It's just a little HP damage."

"It's not just HP damage," Kaede defied, "you were unconscious. Not from exhaustion, either, the physics engine knocked you out."

"It's not like the NervGear can give me a real concussion," Stella defended, turning back to the doorway.

Kaede got in her way. "You still can't-"

Some  **idiot** on _OSO_ 's dev team had apparently decided that a cave should realistically have a few loose stones here and there. Most players probably wouldn't notice them unless they happened to get kicked into one of the lakes - and Stella and her party had in fact been walking over and kicking them since the tundra without realizing they were there - but when Stella made to step around Kaede, her foot happened to land on a loose stone in such a way that her sideways momentum caused her to lose her balance. Kaede's attempt to stand between her and the exit only ended up providing something for her to land on, and as the two were knocked to the ground, Stella found herself landing on something soft.

...Soft?

Stella quickly righted herself, finding Kaede scrambling away as she turned to the door again. "How often were you checking the intersection?"

"Checking?" Kaede suddenly looked very sheepish. "I wasn't checking it; I was pacing this room hoping an encounter would show up. I only came out because I heard it quaking again. That was stupid of me."

"A little," Stella admitted. "I'm gonna watch the intersection."

"Why the rush?" Kaede inquired.

"I want to meet up with my party again," Stella insisted. "I have no intention of dying in _OSO_. Mato's never gonna let me live it down."

Kaede seemed surprised at that. "Mato... Mato Kuroi? You knew one of beta testers for  _Otherworld_?"

Stella nodded. "Yeah. She was a member of my middle school basketball club. She put together one of the biggest guilds in  _Inferno_ all on her own, and she was a friendly sort." She shook her head. "But - and this always kinda pissed me off - she was  **adamant** about keeping her online friends separate from her IRL friends. Like, she didn't treat them any different," she added, seeing Kaede start to react, "she was the same person online as she was offline. But if she didn't already know somebody from outside when she met them online, then she would never go out of her way to meet them in the real world. And she'd mock me for trying to do that. When I told her I'd... met someone who seemed like a nice guy, and tried to meet up with him, she laughed at me. Not insulting me, but amused that I was so eager. She knows not everybody acts the same way offline as they do online. _What if he turns out to be a total punk?_  she said. _What if he just wants a cheap date?_ she said.  _You don't even know that he's a **he**_ , she said."

A heavy sigh broke through her lips.

"When I see her in the afterlife, the first thing she's gonna say to me is 'I told you so'."

Kaede gave a surprised gasp, stumbling back.

Stella glanced back at her. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I... You..." Kaede shook her head. "So that's it then?"

"What do you mean, _that's it_?" Stella turned round completely. "You've known me for three years, we've met in ten games - I got us a booth in  _Nightlighter_! Why didn't you ever bring this up!?"

"Do you even care?" Kaede demanded. "If you've known me for this long, it shouldn't-"

" **No**." That lone word came out forcefully. "If you wanted this, you should have said something after a  _month_ ,  **if** that. You've been hiding  **this** for  _three years?_ What else have you been hiding?"

Kaede opened her mouth to protest... and remained silent.

"Exactly. That's a betrayal of trust." Stella scoffed. "If you want to earn someone's affections, you need to earn them honestly. Keeping your  _gender_ a secret? For this long? I have no reason to trust you."

She turned to the rolling door, stepping up to it; her hands were pressed against it as she shifted it aside, finding the rockslide was still present in the intersection beyond it.

A familiar sound - the light  _clink_ of a Pink Fever being primed.

Stella quickly turned, drawing her Red Rage as Kaede hurled the explosive; she quickly raised her revolver and fired, the blast of flame colliding with the bomb and causing it to detonate at point-blank. Kaede was sent flying backwards, but managed to right herself and skidded to a stop on one knee, rising angrily.

"Seriously?" she demanded. "You're gonna _kill_ me because I dumped you?"

The smoke cleared, and Kaede's furious glare seemed to indicate Stella wasn't the first girl to dump her. She quickly went for her pistols, raising them and firing both at once; Stella leapt aside, drawing her Beast Blade, and the broadsword was wide enough that she was able to cover herself behind it. A few shots collided with the weapon, and in a pause in the gunfire she quickly turned, aiming her Red Rage at Kaede and pulling the trigger. Regrettably, the flame shots travelled noticeably slower than bullets did, and Kaede was able to leap aside, but Stella didn't let up; she kept firing as fast as her trigger finger would move, slowly advancing on her.

She was almost close enough to swing her blade when her opponent's next evasion brought her up close; Kaede drove a kick into her Red Rage, throwing it into the air, before twisting and booting her in the stomach.  _OSO_ 's combat system required a weapon in order to deal HP damage (although gauntlets would let a melee combatant deal kicks), but the blow was still enough to knock her back, and as she tumbled to the ground Kaede raised her pistols to fire. The shots did a good deal of damage, but Stella managed to ignore the pain as she raised the Beast Blade in a backhand grip and slashed across her stomach.

Kaede stumbled back, and Stella quickly got to her feet. An attempt at striking the guns out of her hand was narrowly avoided, and a synchronous pair of shots slammed into Stella's sword hand, causing the weapon to fall. Kaede quickly charged forward, driving a knee into her stomach and causing her to double over; then she brought her arm around, slamming the butt of her pistol into Stella's forehead from below and causing her to reel back. Her HP fell into the pale zone as she fell to the ground, and Kaede quickly leapt upon her; her knees dug into Stella's wrists to stop her from rising, and her attacker slammed one hand to her chest raising the pistol in her other hand threateningly.

"I'm done... being nice," she growled.

"My... answer... is no," Stella forced out.

Tears rose in Kaede's eyes as she raised her pistol with intent to slam it down.

A different kind of tear collided with her forehead before she had the chance, and her HP fell to the pale zone as well.

The rolling doors only closed if someone passed through them once they were open; that had given Stella's party the opening they needed. Ron's kunai distracted Kaede just enough for him to charge forward, swinging his Black Blade hard enough to send Kaede flying. Stella gave a gasp in equal parts fear and shock as the others acted; Nico fired his claws at Kaede, stunning her as she tried to rise, and Ram tossed one of her bladed shields to Ron as he charged forward. Kaede started firing at those unguarded but Acta defended Nico, Ram defended Nana, and Stella managed to seize her Beast Blade again to block the shots at her before Ron was near enough to strike.

His blade slammed into Kaede, and continued into the stone behind her.

"Like a stagnant pool in a river. Muddy and black."

His voice was cold as the blow dealt its HP damage; Kaede's bar was depleted, and Ron wrenched the sword out as her body shattered, a grave marker appearing in its place.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit longer than I intended it to be, but it TOOK a bit longer than I intended it to, so fair's fair.
> 
> I had to get this chapter and the last chapter reviewed to make sure I was careful to avoid pronouns in the narrative until the reveal - and that I was using the RIGHT pronouns afterwards. Now's probably a bad time to check if any of my readers have read Innocent Soul.


	21. City of Farewell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always start writing a chapter the day after I finish the last so anyone's equipment changes are fresh in my mind. That's probably the biggest reason I kept an update-per-day rate up until Chapter 19.

_169 Days Since Launch_

Stella  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Red Rage  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Mammoth Lance  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Orange Smile  
Weapon: Blue Tear  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Hellforge Hammer  
Weapon: Bark Shield  
Garb: None

Nico  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Stone Gauntlets  
Garb: None

Ram  
Armour: Arctic Jacket  
Weapon: Twin Plate  
Weapon: Twin Plate  
Garb: Other Cloak

"Let's  **not** go straight from hot to cold next time."

Nana's comment got a laugh out of Acta. "You didn't have any complaints when we went straight from cold to hot," she argued.

"I hate being cold," Nana protested. "I'd sooner burn alive than freeze to death. And it's all the worse when you've been _in_ the heat."

"That makes no sense," Nico argued. "It's easier to warm up than cool down."

"He's right," Ram agreed. "If you're cold, you can always put on another layer. When it's hot, you can only take so many layers  _off_ , and even less in public."

The entire party halted and turned to her.

Ram turned sheepish. "What? Am I the only one who doesn't-"

She was thankful for the screech that sounded, drawing the party's attention to the cryo hatchlings flying towards them. "Two," Ron counted. "You wanna try our luck?"

Nana looked indecisive for a moment. "You know, what, sure," she insisted, prompting everyone to draw their weapons. "We're close enough."

Stella quickly drew her revolver, firing rapidly at the nearer of the two hatchlings. It quickly screeched loud, diving towards them; Nana jabbed at it with her lance before it had the chance to strike, giving Nico an opening to punch it. Ram jammed its head between her shields as the other spat ice at them; Acta tried to beat the projectiles back at the attacker with her hammer, to no avail, and quickly slammed her weapon down on the trapped one to finish it off. When the remainder flew down at them, Ron hurled his boomerang at it, causing it to twist when it was struck in the wing; Nico slammed both fists down on it, and Stella knocked it off the ground with a sweep of her Beast Blade. Acta bat it into the air, whereupon Ron hurled a few kunai at it; when it had fallen back into melee range, Nana stabbed it with her Black Blade.

The hatchling shattered, and win screens popped up.

A few more minutes of walking revealed the surprise Nana had withheld; the seventh region of the Otherworld was a  **city** , and it was an absolutely  _massive_ city at that. But it was a destroyed city - the was nary a structure in sight that was intact... save for a towering skyscraper in the center.

"Good lady," Nico exclaimed.

"See that big one?" Nana pointed out. "That is the Temporal Spire. It sits in the middle of the Eternal Stadium - that's where the community is - and it's an absolute hell."

Stella turned to her. "I thought you said  _OSO_ didn't do dungeons?"

Nana shook her head. "It's not a dungeon. Every floor is flat and wide-open, with a couple support beams. On the first floor, there's a stairwell opposite the entrance. And on the second floor, there's a stairwell opposite that. They  **say** there's supposed to be something extremely useful and extremely well-sold at the top that you can't find anywhere else."

"You said  _OSO_ didn't do easy money," Stella accused again.

"It's not  **easy** ," Nana insisted. "Once you step inside, the entrance locks, and doesn't open until you take out _everything_ on the first floor. Then the entrance is unlocked, and so is the first stairwell. If you go up the stairwell, it locks and makes you take out everything on the  _second_ floor, and the enemies on the first floor respawn. There are _twenty-four floors_."

"Tell me there's an exemption clause on floor twenty-four," Ron pleaded.

"We don't know," Nana defended. "Nobody made it to floor twenty-four in the beta test. It's an exception to the 'monsters that match your level' thing, like the Field of White, but it uses the same monsters that you'll encounter in the rest of the city. On the first floor is your first-level monsters; on the second floor, they expect you to be Lv 10. Then Lv 20 on the third floor, and so on."

Stella glanced at her stats; the six of them had just broken Lv 50, after half a year. "Let's  _never_ go in there."

"Not for a while, anyways," Ram admitted.

"Let's  **never** go in there," Ron insisted.

"Well," Ram insisted, "I mean, if we stuck to the lower floors, I don't see that-"

Everyone turned to her again - this time, their expressions were firm.

Ram's gaze fell. "...Let's never go in there," she conceded.

Menus were opened, and everybody with a stronger armour set than their weather gear switched out; then Nana took the first step off of the snow and onto the pavement, prompting the dialogue box with the region briefing.

 _=City of Farewell=_  
_No proper building in this city is functional. If there are four walls and a roof - regardless of the state those walls and roof are in - there's no one in it._  
_However, the foundations and layout of the city are largely intact. The streets run a grid throughout the city, and a massive stadium lies in the center where all the inhabitants can reach it with equal effort. Keep your destination in mind, and urban logic will lead you there._  
_Throughout the City of Farewell, your enemies will be robotic in nature._

"Robots," Stella observed. "Finally."

" _Finally?_ " Ron accused. "What's that about?"

"What other type of monster is gonna drop a gun?"

* * *

One should exercise caution when they express their desires; the others had obtained monster drops in the Tundra and beneath the Mountain that had proven inferior to store-bought items simply by virtue of being dropped by monsters expected to be of a lower level, and nobody had brought them up because they'd been selling them as soon as they hit the shops. Less powerful monsters were more common; Ron was of the opinion that Stella was the luckiest bitch in  _OSO_ by the time they were approaching the Eternal Stadium, on account of the fact that monsters had been dropping guns left and right and she hadn't even drawn her sword.

" **Lucky** indicates that chance gives you what you _want_ ," Stella argued.

"You're still gonna have Ai up the hello when you sell all those," Ron countered.

Stella glanced at her Red Rage. "That only counts if they're selling anything worth buying," she insisted.

Nana shook her head. "Trust me; these guys have items worth buying."

A heavy footstep stopped Stella from asking what she meant; the party turned to find a massive, mechanical figure standing there that looked like somebody had robotized a hulking smasher. One arm seemed to be a gatling gun, while the other ended in a heavy claw-hand that looked like it was more likely to crush than cut. Beside it stood a slimmer mechanical figure in a tattered cape, with four arms; two wielded mismatched swords, one held a crossbow, and the last was hovering over a belt of throwing knives sheathed at its hip.

A grin stretched itself across Stella's face. "Now  _this_ is more like it. How are we looking?" A glance up at the HP bars revealed the party was in decent condition, so she left it to their proclamation.

Nico took a fighting stance. "If that big one drops claws, I call dibs."

Ron drew a Blue Tear and his Orange Smile. "Can you even get projectile weapons from monster drops?"

Acta laughed, hoisting her hammer over her shoulder. "Doesn't sound like an easy way to stock up!"

Ram raised her bladed shields. "Maybe if it drops them in packs."

Nana drew her Black Blade and lance. "First time for everything."

Stella reached up, pulling her Beast Blade from her back and slamming it to the pavement before drawing her revolver and aiming it skyward.

"Alright. Let's dance, baby!"

A pull of her gun's trigger launched a blast of fire into the air; that was enough to provoke the robotic enemies, and the thinner one raised its crossbow. It had fired a second bolt by the time Stella had hopped aside from the first one, and Ron hurled his Orange Smile at the attacker, finding the edge to slice across its side but do nothing to stop it from firing another pair. Nico and Acta had already charged the hulking one, which raised its hand to swing; the faster Nico leaned back as it swung forward, letting the machine's claws slice through the air before him, then dealing a quick sequence of three punches. He failed to realize its arm hadn't moved after its swing; the claws rotated on the end of its arm and swung again, this blow sending Nico reeling back.

Acta quickly slammed her hammer into its head; as soon as its HP started decreasing, she arced into a spin to send her momentum the other way and slammed it again. Another double-swing was narrowly avoided, and when she and Nico made to dash around it, it raised its gatling arm to aim at Ron. Ram quickly stepped in the way and slammed her shields together before her, against which its bullets collided. Nana had been waiting for a break in the thin one's barrage of projectiles; as it hit, she ducked under the gunfire and charged it, weaving between shots from Stella's Red Rage and driving her lance into its torso. It started to move its swords, and she deflected a diagonal cut, then ducked under a whirling blow before sidestepping a downward strike and stabbing her Black Blade through its head.

Stella's footsteps behind her prompted her to wrench the weapons out, turning aside as she swung her sword. The Beast Blade slashed downwards across the robotic samurai's torso, and she quickly shot it with her Red Rage while it was stumbling. A quick glance at the big one revealed its side was clear; she tossed her revolver into the air and seized her blade in two hands, batting the thin one with the flat of the blade and launching it into its ally - and the path of Acta's hammer swing. Ron's Orange Smile flew forward and sliced them both, finishing off the samurai, and Stella quickly seized her falling revolver before charging the big one.

Acta slammed her hammer into one side.

Stella drove her Beast Blade into the other.

Nico delivered a two-fisted punch to its torso.

Ron impaled a Blue Tear in its face.

Nana ran its head through with her lance.

Then Ram hurled her shields, one-two, and as the second one collided the robot faded, shimmered, and shattered into light.

Win screens popped up as Stella lowered her Red Rage with a laugh. "That felt good," she mused, holstering the gun.

"Throwing your shield doesn't  _always_ work, you know," Acta told Ram.

"It was close enough to dying I thought that would be faster," Ram insisted, stepping forward to reclaim the fallen plates.

Ron closed his win screen with a sigh. "Armour, but no weapons," he announced.

Ram did the same. "No drops for me."

"Doesn't that just figure," Stella muttered.

"Let's get into the stadium," Nana advised. "I'm gonna show you what's worth coming here for."

* * *

The Eternal Stadium, as Stella reckoned, was big enough to play gridiron football on, and then host a population that would fill the City of Farewell. Now she understood what the region briefing had been talking about when it mentioned four walls and a roof; NPC shops looked more like concession stands than buildings, which meant they didn't have four walls so much as three walls and a counter, and several of them lacked roofs. A large sign that read _INN_ was planted before an array of tents, next to which stood an NPC clerk, and in the center of the stadium rose the tallest building in the Otherworld - the Temporal Spire.

Nana highlighted the shops on the side they'd come in through, a weapons shop, an armour shop, a potions shop, "and the inn, but I don't count an inn as a 'shop', per se." Then, after a stop at the warp orb next to the inn, she led them across the field (no short walk) to where several other stands were set up. "These are  **specialty** shops."

"Do go on," Nico prompted.

"This one," Nana highlighted, aiming at the first one they came up to, "is a tailor shop. She sells garb - and if you have heat or cold resistant armour, she will sell you heat or cold resistant garb at a price that includes your armour."

"You're kidding," Ram protested.

"No kidding," Nana confirmed. "It  _just_ has the weather effects, so no stat boosts, but that lets you wear your best armour in the bad regions." Then, pointing to the next stand, "Healing crystal specialist. The only place with revival items that doesn't sell them at a premium. New regular." Then; "How many of you guys have been longing for some real area of effect?"

Nico and Acta raised their hands.

With a grin, Nana pointed to the next shop. " _Offensive_ crystal specialist. The effect crystals he sells can take out a whole mob if you aim them right."

"What's the catch?" Ron inquired.

"Why does there have to be a catch?" Nana argued.

"Then it really is that easy?"

"Well, I didn't say that."

Stella giggled as Ron mock-pouted. "I think I've been here before," she observed.

Nana laughed. "Offensive crystals are  _indiscriminate_ ," she explained. "The only person they won't harm is the user. You have to be careful with these. Which is why he also sells party-shield crystals; any offensive crystals used by somebody in the same shield can't hurt other people in the same shield."

Ram glanced around. "So basically, this place is awesome."

There was a smile on Nana's face. "You guys go hog-wild. The rest of today, we'll break, make sure we're rested for tomorrow. Then we'll grab a tent at the inn."

"That sounds so weird."

"Doesn't it, though?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may or may not be my last chapter before Christmas. Kinda hope it's not, but just for warning.


	22. Concrete Battlefield

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope my description of Ron's effect makes sense here.

Stella  
Armour: Colour of Pain  
Weapon: Urban Blaster  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: None

Nana  
Armour: Warrior of Night  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Mammoth Lance  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Warrior of Night  
Weapon: Fuma Shuriken  
Weapon: Triple Kunai  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Ice Mail  
Weapon: Hellforge Hammer  
Weapon: Mighty Shield  
Garb: Blackjack

Nico  
Armour: Flame Mail  
Weapon: Stone Gauntlets  
Garb: Freelance

Ram  
Armour: Warrior of Night  
Weapon: Guarded Blade  
Weapon: Rigid Shield  
Garb: White Dress

Stella stepped out of her inn tent and found the others waiting for her by the sign. The previous night's shopping trip had been **very** successful; the shops of the Eternal Stadium made up for the matching inventories in the Blizzard Checkpoints and the Circle of Hell by providing a much more diverse selection of weapons and armour. The weapon shop provided multiple arms for each category that possessed similar (if not identical) stats but different functions; Acta and Ram were both wearing new shields, yet with almost nothing in common between them, and Stella was wearing a set of black plate - with full gauntlets that were part of the armour, not a weapon - that was decidedly not the same armour as the starry-patterned coat Ron was wearing.

"Morning," Nana greeted as she approached. She was the only one besides Stella who hadn't bought new garb (aside from the weatherproof outfits), although Ron hadn't equipped his yet because of how it worked. Acta was wearing a tight-fitting black jacket that reached down to the floor, with an open front to provide freedom of movement; Nico had found something that put him in what was _normally_  the game's default outfit when there was no armour equipped; and Ram was wearing an elegant white ensemble that the others  _really_ hoped didn't have any collision detection. Ron's garb was a different sort - if he equipped it while he had armour equipped, it would give him the appearance of that armour even once he changed, until he unequipped the garb - and he was waiting for a return trip to Survivalist Jungle before he put it on.

"Morning," Stella returned. "What are we in the mood for today?"

"Well," Nana admitted, "I'm in the mood for something really stupid."

Everyone turned and gave her a look.

Nana raised her hands defensively. "Hear me out. You know how none of the buildings outside the Stadium are functional? If there's a working door and no huge holes in the walls where you can get through them, it functions as a trap - kind of like the Temporal Spire - that's designed to give you the strongest enemies your level lets you face."

"Weapon drops," Ram realized.

"Exactly," Nana confirmed. "We've hit all the shops in the Otherworld; the only things that'll be better than what we've got now will be monster drops from the toughest monsters we can find."

Ron nodded. "Alright, let's go find a trap."

* * *

The first few traps were in small buildings that looked like they used to be residential houses; Ron hadn't been wearing his armour drop from yesterday because the robotic samurai and hulking gunner had  **not** been among the strongest monsters they could find, and the shops had been selling better wear. Today's encounters gave Stella a welcome rush of adrenaline, and although the drops were sparse, she was in too good a mood to complain.

After their seventh round, the party considering heading back to the Stadium when a yell of pain got their attention. Stella turned to see someone at a nearby intersection, fighting a series of small robots that Acta had been able to take out in one hit (if she sent them flying into a wall); to her concern, however, no sooner had they noticed the player than she shattered, and a grave marker appeared where she had been. With a curse, Stella realized that she must have recently survived a much worse encounter and gotten ambushed; she charged towards the grave, opening her menu as the others followed her. From her menu she invoked a Pink Fever (she'd picked up stronger explosives in the Stadium, but hadn't sold her old ones when they were all expendable anyways) and a revival crystal; she quickly primed the bomb and hurled it into the swarm, and the blast wiped them all out as she knelt next to the grave.

_Sakurako  
Revive by: 12min 35sec_

Stella quickly pressed the crystal to the grave and shouted, "Return!" It shattered in her hand, and she got to her feet as the win screen for the encounter appeared before her; the grave marker was wrapped in light, and when it faded, the fallen player reappeared; a girl with shoulder-length black hair that fell before her, garbed in an Other Cloak.

"H-Hey," she greeted.

"Hey," Stella welcomed. "Bad ambush?"

"Um, no..."

Sakurako got to her feet as the party shared confused looks. Acta was the one who asked, "What level are you?"

Nico scoffed. "No one could ever get all the way here at less than-"

"I'm Level 5."

The entire party whipped around to face her. "Okay,  _what?_ " Ron demanded.

"How is that even possible?" Ram inquired.

"Wait," Nana mused, "I remember you. You were in the beta test."

Sakurako turned to her. "Oh, you," she realized. "Didn't you finish off that dragon?"

It was Nana's turn to receive the entire party's stares. "How did you manage to stay Level 5 for half a year, and still make it all the way to the City of Farewell?" she asked to change the subject back.

"A lot of patience, a lot of drinks, and some coercion with other parties," Sakurako explained. "I'm trying to farm enough Ai to get weapons and armour from the stadium without getting too high."

Stella opened her menu, murmuring, "I think I could..."

Ron shook his head. "Why would you even risk that?" he demanded. "This game's gonna kill you, why would you-"

"Oh, please."

Sakurako's utterance turned the mood dark in that intersection. She didn't seem to react, glancing around. "The Stadium has the best gear Ai can purchase, and the City has the most rewarding enemies in the game. They're not expecting you to be here at such low levels,  **but** they've still programmed enemies to match it. Low-level enemies with high-end weapons? I haven't seen level grinding possibilities like this in ages."

The party was quiet for a long moment; then Stella, who had been about to offer her a bag of Ai to lend her a hand, quickly cancelled the action to prepare it. "Tell me you're not seriously one of those  _morons_ who thinks this death game is a joke." Her voice was cold and furious.

"Really?" Sakurako demanded. "You really think this is a fight for survival?"

"We've been logged on for half a year straight," Nana said firmly. "A human body can only go three days without water, three weeks without food. Everybody here has to be on  _life support_ in the real world."

Sakurako groaned. "If you're gonna act like that, then have a nice day."

She started to storm away... and then turned back. "I do owe you thanks for saving my ass, though," she admitted. Pointing down a different route in the intersection than she'd started walking; "There's a mall down this way with busted doors. In the beta test, if you were in the 40 zone, there was this huge thing in there that dropped, like, ten different sellables to  _everyone_ who took part in the fight. I remember the killing blow yelling about a sweet weapon afterwards. Might wanna check it out!"

Once she was gone, Stella closed her menu with a swipe of her middle finger in Sakurako's direction. "It's bad enough she's in denial," she muttered. "But she's in denial and  _self-challenging._  She's gonna get herself killed."

"...Yeah," Ram admitted, "but what are we gonna do about it? She's not gonna be convinced. And it took us half a year to get to Lv 50, we're not gonna be able to defend her until she's capable. And I'm certainly not giving my Ai to someone with that attitude."

"Agreed," the party chorused.

Acta glanced down the way Sakurako had pointed. "Maybe we should go see that monster she mentioned?" she offered.

"I never went in that mall," Nana admitted. "Let's try it."

"She said the doors were busted," Nico mused, "that means it's not a trap building. We can run if it's trouble."

Ron nodded. "I like the sound of that, actually. The big ones are easier to see coming."

"I'm in for it," Ram confirmed. "Stella?"

"...Yes," Stella agreed. "Let's try."

* * *

They found the mall without much trouble; it was a positively massive building, and although there were only two entrances on their street, the glass-windowed doors were shattered and broken from their hinges, guaranteeing entrance and exit. A glance inside revealed that the shops were all closed and gated, meaning that enemies would be throughout the main walking zone; several lights were out, but there were overheads lit at even enough intervals that there was no way anything could hide. As they stepped inside, Stella quickly found a directory which revealed the mall's structure - a large loop, with a few offshoots for the doors (two on their side, two on the opposite, and one on either perpendicular) and a food court situated in the center.

"Wouldn't that be a kick," Nana mused, "finding a Lv 40 solo encounter in the food court and getting eaten on the first hit."

Nico laughed at that, but Ron shook his head. "Robots, remember?" he insisted. "They're not gonna be doing any eating."

Acta shook her head. "You can't be sure," she argued. "What if it's, like, this robot bear that's gonna chomp on us because we got too close when it wasn't working proper?"

Ram blinked, slowly turning to her. "...Why do you kn-?"

"I don't." Acta said it quickly and hastily.

"You just-"

" **I don't**."

Nico snickered. "You do s-"

Acta reached back for her hammer. "Nico, shut up."

"No no no," Ram insisted, "that's way too accurate. You couldn't just say that at rand-"

"Drop it!" Acta snapped.

"I am  _not_ dropping it," Ram denied. "You're too young to-"

"Shut up!"

Stella, Ron, and Nana exchanged confused glances as Ram protested. "What guardian would let-"

"Nobody let me! There was  _nothing to let!_ "

"Now I  _know_ you're lying to me. Why-"

"Just shut up!"

"Would it kill you to-"

"Leave it!"

"I can't just-"

"Ram, I will beat you down and bring you back if you don't **shut up!** "

That was sudden and unheralded; the rest of the party all went for their weapons, and even Nico took a step back and raised a hand towards Acta. Ram slowly raised her hands palms-out in a 'fine, you win' gesture, stepping back.

Acta grunted angrily, turning away. "Dammit, why did I make that reference?"

"So you _have_ -!"

"Oh,  **that's it-!** "

Stella pulled her Beast Blade off her back and slammed it to the floor between them, causing Acta, Ram, and Nico to all pull away. "Stop," she said firmly. "Whatever you're talking about, leave it. We're here for a reason, I'm not going to tolerate infighting."

Ram took a deep breath, and then let it out. "Alright."

"...Fine," Acta muttered.

"Good." Stella lifted up the blade enough for her to turn it in her grip and seize it backhand, allowing her to drag it behind her as she turned around. "Now, keep your eyes out. She didn't say anything about what this thing was like. We have no way of..."

She fell quiet, a strange sound could be heard.

"...knowing..."

Several of the shops had once had glass displays; and now the shards upon the floor were starting to rattle.

"...what we're..."

The tremor grew, shaking the players and causing them to widen their stances.

"...looking for."

A threatening - and astonishingly bright - light was cast down on the surface as something neared the corner; Stella was thankful that they were far enough away to prevent it from being cast on them. The light swept slightly down the offshoot, and then its source rounded the turn - a huge, mechanical structure that barely fit in the mall, with gatling guns on either side and massive treads that should not have let it turn as sharply as it did.

"It's a... tank?" Ron stumbled.

"Yep," Nico confirmed. "It's a tank."

Nana gulped. "Tanks, huh..."

"Oh, boy," Stella murmured. "This looks like trouble."

The tank paused again, and Stella realized it was at another offshoot; she quickly turned her Beast Blade back to a forehand grip. "Follow behind it," she instructed the party as she affixed the weapon to her back again.

The group moved at once, quickly catching up to the (rather slow-moving) tank. The entrance to the food court was almost 90 degrees around where they had come in, and much narrower than she expected; real-world food courts were usually openly-accessible. It wasn't barred as the shops were, and when the tank didn't pause before they saw it, Stella saw an opportunity. She quickly led the group in, finding it was largely intact, and once they were safely out of risk she spoke up.

"It doesn't come in here, and I don't think it scans the entrance," she observed. "Even if it does, building walls are immortal objects; it could never get inside. If those guns are fixed-mounted, it can't aim in here - at least not with any speed as far as our being able to get out of the way. We could hit it as it passes."

Ron turned to Nana. "Does enemy HP respawn if you run away?"

"Most enemies  _despawn_ if you run away," Nana observed. "But there were some fixed-location magma things in the caves under Hell Mountain. I think I remember a round in the beta test when we ran away to heal and then came back to find it was still half-down."

"Alright," Ron mused. "That should work, then. How far does its light reach?"

They watched it pass a few times; it was surprisingly fast at lapping the mall, considering its patrol, and its light didn't reach much further than two paces in. As it neared for a fifth lap, Stella threw a Purple Haze into its path, and it burst as the tank neared it. To her surprise, it started to take HP damage - although that was small comfort when  _three_ HP bars appeared, and the first was only taking damage very slowly. The tank's headlight turned red just past the food court area, and it started to rotate on the spot as though looking for something.

Acta charged forward with her hammer raised, and before anyone could stop her, she leapt atop the tank's back end and brought her hammer down.

Everyone yelped as the vehicle started to turn; Stella quickly drew her pistol, Ron drew a three-pronged kunai, Nana readied her Black Blade, and Ram pulled her shield as it started to come back the way it came. Acta was concerned to find the Purple Haze was hurting  _her_ as well, and at a faster pace than it was the tank - but she reacted quickly, opening her menu between swings of her hammer and manifesting an effect crystal. With a yell of "Guard!" a barrier lit up around her, and identical barriers surrounded the rest of the party; then she slammed the tank a few more times and then manifested another.

"Thunderflash!"

The crystal shattered, and lightning ripped up around her in all directions, slamming into walls, displays, her allies... and the tank. Thankfully, whoever had designed the offensive crystals had through to prevent them from activating Immortal Object notices, for the only reaction she got was the tank starting to spark, its headlight going out as a large chunk dropped out of one of its HP bars.

The enemy had gone still; Stella quickly charged out of the food court access, drawing her Beast Blade. Ron followed suit as he grabbed the oversized shuriken that functioned as his throwing weapon; Nana drew her mammoth-tusk lance as she and Nico chased after them, and Ram held back just long enough to draw her weighted sword before bringing up the rear. Acta was still mounted on the back of the tank, swinging her hammer left and right so that when it recoiled from one blow, she could bring it into another; Stella fired at the tank as she approached it, and Ron hurled his fuma at it. To his surprise, the weapon collided with the enemy, rattled up its side - dealing damage as it did - and  _then_ arced back towards him, and he hurled a few kunai at the enemy before raising his hand to catch the returning weapon.

Stella had gotten near enough to swing her blade; she quickly drove her pistol into its holster as she did, slicing across the tank's front end, before grabbing it in both hands and starting to swing harder, faster. Nico was up at her side in an instant, throwing a fast, rhythmic barrage of one-two punches into the hull, and Ram came up next to him with a forward thrust from her sword that quickly segued into a barrage of slashes; Nana started attacking in a flurry of lance thrusts and sword swings that seemed to be blurs in her hands. Ron caught his fuma and hurled it again before resuming kunai throws, and Acta was maintaining her back-and-forth swings; the tank started to move again as its first HP bar was about to empty, she quickly lowered her hammer, opened her menu, and grabbed another crystal.

"Thunderflash!"

The second blast of voltage finished off the first bar and took a decent hit out of the second, stunning the tank again as the Purple Haze faded out; the party continued their assault, but kept their eyes open for the signs that it was about to go down again. Without needing to close the distance, the second HP bar was already down when it did, and Stella, Nana, Ron, Nico, and Ram all dashed away, taking refuge back in the food court access. Acta opened her menu once more and found she was out of Thunderflash crystals; she quickly scanned her selection and grabbed the one she thought would be the next best option.

"Fyre!"

When this crystal shattered, a blast of flame emerged from where it had been - washing over Acta, the hall, and the tank, and dealing barely half as much damage as the lightning had. Stella drew her pistol again and started firing at the tank's headlights; the flames, however, didn't stop the tank from moving, and as it turned towards her the guns on its sides began to spin. The party quickly retreated as it advanced, getting one gun lined up with the food court access; they quickly leapt aside, dashing towards the next corner on that wall.

All of them came to an abrupt halt when a swirl of green flames appeared in front of them - and in the center of the vortex, a cracked skull.

"No way," Nana gasped. "The domain of a goddess!?"

Acta's second yell of "Fyre!" prompted Stella to dash back towards the access; the tank had turned back towards Acta, and its HP was well into the pale zone. She promptly drew her Beast Blade as it turned around, and Acta - whose HP, Stella only realized, was dangerously low - leapt into the access, landing just behind the gunner as she leapt on to take the young one's place. One hand found the handhold Acta had used; the other started swinging her sword, and the tank tried to spin to throw her off - to no avail.

Stella hadn't been on its back for sixty seconds before it went still, and she slung the Beast Blade onto her back again as it lightened, shimmered, and shattered into light. She fell a short distance, landing on one knee as the win screens popped up - as they had been told, there were several sellables on that list - and she turned to find her party stepping out of the food court, Acta looking tired.

"There's a fine line between courage and recklessness," Acta panted.

"Says the girl who just leapt on the back of a tank with a hammer," Stella countered, closing her win screen - and just barely realizing that one of those drops had a weapon icon rather than a sellable icon before she did.

She quickly opened her menu, and had just manifested a healing crystal when someone's voice came from down the hall.

"Look at you winners."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, he is gonna hate me for this. Rejected options for Acta's aside-to-self line in that argument:  
> -"Dammit, now I've got that tune stuck in my head."  
> -"Great. Can we set this place on fire?"  
> -"Dammit, now I'm gonna freak out if the lights quit."  
> -"It's not even that scary."  
> -"Dammit, now I want a flashlight and a disguise."  
> -"Go for the challenge, I said."


	23. Dead Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As was expected, he hates me for that. And now -I- hate me for that, because I had to go and make sure my jokes were accurate, and that's in my brain now. I haven't even played the frickin' thing, it's horrible and nightmarish.
> 
> And since I'm already in Acta's shoes: Dammit, why did I make that reference?

Stella  
Armour: Colour of Pain  
Weapon: Urban Blaster  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: None

Nana  
Armour: Warrior of Night  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Mammoth Lance  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Warrior of Night  
Weapon: Fuma Shuriken  
Weapon: Triple Kunai  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Ice Mail  
Weapon: Hellforge Hammer  
Weapon: Mighty Shield  
Garb: Blackjack

Nico  
Armour: Flame Mail  
Weapon: Stone Gauntlets  
Garb: Freelance

Ram  
Armour: Warrior of Night  
Weapon: Guarded Blade  
Weapon: Rigid Shield  
Garb: White Dress

"Look at you winners."

Stella turned, shocked to see Sakurako approaching them. "What are you doing here?"

Sakurako looked almost insulted. "Hello?" she demanded. "I just gave you a tip for the richest enemy in the region - that anyone knows about - that drops things for everyone who _participates_ , and you didn't expect me to come along and give it a few hits?"

A sigh of relief broke out of Stella's lips. "Dammit, don't scare us like that," she reprimanded, standing upright. "I thought you were gonna try and PK us."

"Why would I PK you?" Sakurako demanded. " _How_ would I PK you, I'm Lv 6 and you managed to bait out the Lv 40 tank."

"You got the drops, then?" Nana asked.

"Well, no," Sakurako admitted. "I didn't want to hit that thing while it was patrolling, and you set this hallway on fire."

She raised one hand - revealing two effect crystals closed in her grip.

"So hand them over."

The party started, and Stella went for her Beast Blade, one hand still closed tight on the healing crystal she had invoked. "What are those?"

"Fun little things," Sakurako admitted. One crystal was blue, and one was pink; she shifted the pink one so it was held higher. "This crystal lets you rob a group of enemies without taking them out - every last Ai they have. Useful for a low-level run, but you need to target the rich sorts or you'll just end up buying more robber crystals." Then she shifted the blue one up. "And this one freezes enemies entire. I don't have to tell you about the dangers of area-of-effect offensive crystals, do I?" She shifted them even and tightened her grip on them. "Give me the drops, or I'll rob your whole wallets and leave you here for the respawn."

"Okay, cool it," Acta insisted, opening her menu. "You could have just asked, 'Hey, would you let me have a couple sellables', and we would have-"

"Not sellables," Sakurako interrupted. "Give me the _weapon_ drops."

Stella grit her teeth. "Drop," she corrected. "Singular. I only got one weapon. Heal." This was directed at her crystal, which quickly shattered; the entire party was quickly washed over with healing light, taking Acta's HP out of the pale zone.

Sakurako rolled her eyes. "Well, I suppose I'm lucky enough you got any weapons at all," she admitted. "Hand it over."

"Fine," Stella insisted, opening her menu again. "Just hold-"

"Not fine," Acta interrupted.

The would-be robber turned to find the hammer-wielder holding an effect crystal of her own. Sakurako quickly panicked, raising her crystal as Acta raised hers.

"Freezer!"  
"AntiFreeze!"

Both Acta's crystal and Sakurako's blue one shattered at once; a storm of ice ripped out from where Sakurako's had been, washing across the hall. The ice crossed Stella and her party, freezing them all solid; Stella was suddenly aware of how  _horrible_ it was to be hit with this, as everything in her body - her eyes, her mouth, her tongue - stopped moving entirely, no matter how strongly she willed them to. But only for a moment; for a sudden wash of heat rippled over her, and the ice receded. Her hand quickly went to her pistol, and as Sakurako stumbled back, shocked at their sudden resistance, Stella drew the firearm and fired at her pink crystal, knocking it out of her hand.

"How-!?"

Stella's party retreated back into the food court - which, she suddenly realized, had no exit. With a curse, she charged after them before Sakurako could do the same, finding them gathered before the entrance to the domain of the green goddess.

"Wrong way!" she yelled.

"We know!" Nico protested. "But the hallways are too long to stop her from hitting us if she's got another attack crystal! It's the fry pot or the fire!"

Stella glanced back at the access, from which Sakurako's footsteps could be heard, and turned back to the vortex of green.

"Fire!"

* * *

When Stella emerged from the vortex, the first thing she noticed was the lack of visibility. In fact, it took her a moment to realize that she  _had_ emerged from the vortex; the domain of the green goddess was wrapped in green fog, and she had stumbled through with a low stance. After a moment, she stood upright.

Graves.

She stood on a massive field, and graves were scattered about ahead of her. Most of them were grey stone, environmental items meant to provide ambience to this dead land. However, after a moment, terror hit Stella, for she could see - faintly, through the green fog - several black grave markers, the signs of defeated players who had come across this domain.

Panting behind her caused her to turn around, finding the others in her party standing behind her. "Is everyone alright?" she asked quickly.

"For now," Nana panted. "We can't stick around here, though."

"That's still better than getting robbed every Ai we have," Ron insisted.

"Why didn't you just shoot  _her_?" Ram demanded, turning to Stella.

Stella threw her hands up. "I don't want to be a killer!" she defended. "Why is that such a bad-"

"Acta." Nico was looking around. "Where's Acta? Where did she go?" A glance at the party's HP bars revealed Acta's had disappeared.

"She didn't come through as fast as we did," Nana realized. "It must have auto-left her from the party. She's still in the city!"

"Back," Ron insisted. "We have to go-"

"Holy..." Ram stumbled backwards. "What is that...?"

Everyone followed her gaze across the plains. Something had appeared that wasn't there when Stella had looked; massive chains in black, with an aura of green, were racing about opposite the way they had come, intersecting in a threatening web. Behind them, she saw something she had missed - a figure in black and green, perched upon a throne, with two great skulls hovering at her sides - and that figure slowly got to her feet.

An HP bar appeared above the goddess - in ominous green.

"Go back," Stella gasped. "We go back!"

The skulls soared forward; Ram was the first to hit the warp, followed by Nico and Ron. The skulls were _uncomprehendingly_  fast, and as Stella hit the warp one's teeth closed on her pistol - and caused it to  _shatter_ \- before she was gone.

* * *

Ram's voice rang out around her, yelling, "Heal!" before she could see. When she  _could_ see, she was terrified to find she was standing at the edge of a  _lake of lava_ , and the healing light topped the HP of her and her party moments before it began to drain - rapidly.

"What...?  _Hell Mountain!?_ "

Ron grabbed her shoulder. "Stella, your garb!"

Stella opened her menu and tapped to the equipment as fast as she could, opening her garb selection and hitting her fire-defensive attire. Her HP quickly stopped draining as she turned to her party. "How are we on Hell Mountain?"

"The domains," Nana realized. "The portals to the domains... they change location.  _That's_ why we never found any in the beta test!"

Nico spun around. "Acta! Acta's still in the City with that robber!"

Ram turned to him. "Nico, you can't-"

"No!" That sudden yell caught them all off-guard. "We can't just leave her there! We have to go back!"

"Nico-"

" **We have to go back!** "

It was clear that the boy wasn't to be dissuaded; he turned and charged away from the lake of lava, and the rest of the party chased after him.

* * *

It was a faster trip to go straight into the City of Farewell than to find the Circle of Hell and take the warp orb. That didn't make the trip  _quick_ ; it was approaching midnight as they reached the Eternal Stadium, and though Stella, Nana, Ron, and Ram had held little hope from the beginning that Acta was still alive, even Nico's pace had slowed as he felt that - even if Acta had been alive when they left - she couldn't have survived this long.

Such, then, was everyone's surprise when they entered the Stadium, intending to pass through to get to the tank's mall territory, and heard a young female voice yell "Hey, you guys!"

Nico's gaze shot up to find a familiar girl approaching them, waving towards them with the arm carrying her shield. " _Acta!_ "

Acta was shortly thankful for the entirety of the Stadium being a safe zone; she was well away from the shops when Nico's tearful hug collided with her hard enough that a white flash emitted to show that it  _normally_ would have caused damage. The other four came up to their side as the two got to their feet, and Stella asked, "How did you-?"

"That Freezer was the only attack crystal she had," Acta explained. "I was able to stop her from using any of her robber crystals, and..." Her face fell. "And then she pulled a rifle on me."

"How did you survive that?" Ron demanded.

"She was Lv 6," Acta reminded them. "We're Lv 52. No equipment in the Otherworld would have dealt enough damage to take me out that fast."

Nana noticed her phrasing. "She...  _was_ Lv 6?"

Acta closed her eyes. "I didn't have a choice."

There was quiet between them for a long moment.

"We know," Ram assured her. "If she was going to attack you, that's a matter of self defense. You have nothing to worry about."

"So," Acta mused, turning to Stella to change the subject, "what's that weapon drop you mentioned?"

Stella had forgotten it in the commotion; she quickly opened her menu and went to her inventory, scrolling down to the new one. "Seven-Shots," she observed. "Interesting name. I'd love to see the firing rate on..."

She fell quiet when she opened up the stats - finding that next to each number was a familiar slashed star.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is pretty short, but I can't drag it much further than this. And I need some sweet dreams, so I'm gonna go read Girl Friends.


	24. Plain of Suffering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I've been dropping hints for the last seven chapters, but now we get serious. We all know Insane, but who else knows about the -third- Black Rock Shooter?

_358 Days Since Launch_

Stella  
Armour: Colour of Pain  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: Other Cloak

"Hey, lady!"

The voice over Stella's shoulder drew her footsteps to halt in the middle of the City of Farewell; she turned to find a pair of figures with Black Blades approaching her. One was a lanky male in what looked like the leather armour set available in the Town of Endings, while the other was a surprisingly built female wearing the starlit armour from the Stadium. The sight of the starlight told Stella that the leather was most likely a ruse, and she quickly demanded, "What do you want?"

"No need to be rude," the woman reprimanded. "Where are you going?"

"None of your business," Stella insisted.

"Well," the man argued, "considering that were were going to invite you to party with us if you're not going anywhere important, I think it is our business."

Stella scoffed. "Then you think wrong," she reprimanded. "However, asking whether or not I want to party with you is a significantly different question than asking where I'm going. And the answer is no."

The woman scoffed. "You should lead with... what's that?"

A glance down revealed a prompt button had appeared before Stella, with an envelope symbol upon it. "Message from someone on my friends list," she observed, reaching towards it.

A mechanical scream stopped her from pressing the button; she and her confrontors turned to find something storming from between a pair of buildings that had nearly collapsed. It was vaguely humanoid, with a pair of short blades for hands and a rotating red light on a black mount for a head; its legs had jagged blue edges extending out the backs, and its feet were flat blue discs that flashed brightly with every step. It raised its hands up and then swung them down, and the blades extended so that each was at least as long as a Black Blade; a crown of blue light rippled around its head, and two HP bars appeared beside it.

Stella sighed, flicking up at her message notice so it disappeared into her menu; then she her right hand reached for her Seven-Shots as her confrontors turned to her. "What level are you?" the woman demanded.

"75, you?"

"We just broke 60," the man protested.

The handgun was drawn - a weighty pistol with a glowing blue segment atop the barrel - and Stella's left hand went up for her Beast Blade. "Well, let's see how much you can contribute."

When she slammed the blade down, the machine charged toward her; she stepped to the side with an upward swing, slicing across the machine's side as it swung at where she had just been. She quickly spun, raising her Seven-Shots and pulling the trigger once; from the barrel emerged seven rapidly-firing bullets, each flying out at a slightly different angle than the previous and soaring towards the machine. The entire bombardment had left the gun in the span of a fifth of a second, slamming into the mounted red light of the machine's head, and when it turned towards her Stella swung her Beast Blade again. This time it collided with the flat of her blade, knocking the machine into a spin; it ended up facing the couple that had confronted her, who quickly slashed at it with their Black Blades.

Stella started firing at the creature from behind again, her trigger finger moving as fast as it could - each set of seven bullets leaving the barrel before she could even release the trigger from the pull that propelled them - and the machine made to swipe at the couple, who parried the blows and leap back. It made to step forward, but Stella swung her sword at it again; when it spun round, she ducked low, bringing the weapon into another slash and then letting it turn in her hand so that it ended up in a reverse grip. When the machine's slash finished, she arced into a spin, slashing the enemy once and then twice before halting her momentum and driving the blade into its torso; then she raised her gun again and fired before wrenching the blade out.

Its first HP bar vanished as the machine stumbled; then it straightened and raised its swords over its head, and its eye light turned from red to blue. Its feet shifted, the blue discs rising to vertical as its legs extended grips to accommodate the altered stance; then the discs changed, arced spikes jutting out in all directions as they turned into shining blue sawblades.

With a huff, Stella impaled her Beast Blade in the ground beside her. "Oh, this oughta be good."

Two Black Blades slashed across the machine's back, causing it to turn; Stella raised her Seven-Shots and started firing again, but the machine only advanced on the couple once more. Shifting her grip on the sword, she charged forward as they slashed at it one more time; then it lashed its feet forward in one-two kicks, and the sawblades clattered violently against their Black Blades, throwing them to the ground. Stella quickly spun again, slashing the machine twice; she fired at its head while it was still turning, then drove her blade into its side to prevent it from turning all the way around. An attempted slash was beaten away with her Seven-Shots as she wrenched the blade up, then down, then up again; she quickly fired at its head from point-blank, then yanked the blade out with another spin, slashing at it once more as it stumbled.

Then, when it tried to slash at her, she slammed the butt of her Seven-Shots into its head.

The blue light cracked, and the floating crown projection faded out; then the enemy lightened, shimmered, and shattered, and win screens popped up before Stella and her confrontors.

 _Oh, that looks good,_ Stella observed on seeing an armour drop. She quickly closed the win screen and turned to her confrontors, who had yet to even pick up their swords and were staring at her open-mouthed. "Still want to party with me?"

"I don't think so," the man admitted.

"Decidedly not," the woman agreed.

They reclaimed their blades and took off, and with a scoff, Stella opened her menu. Remembering the message she had received earlier, she opened her friends list and tapped the chat log for each player on there until she found it.

_New encounters discovered on the Plain of Suffering; let's meet up!_

With a curious hum, Stella tapped the button to reply.  _I'll be there ASAP._

* * *

Arriving back at the Eternal Stadium, she restocked her effect crystals and got rid of the sellables she'd picked up on her grind; then she opened her equipment menu, finding the armour that her last encounter had dropped. Render's Wear \- a threatening black ensemble designed to look like the machine she had taken out. Armoured black gauntlets with wide cuffs and some threatening spikes; armoured black greaves with blue blades out the back and blue discs for the feet. She wasn't sure if the main body was designed to be one article or two; a black skirt held in place with a broad white belt, and a black tank top with a row of five stars along the bustline and a slightly lopsided lower half that would expose her midriff. It also had a small note -  _Lower blades provide offensive functions; invalid if used with garb._

And its stats... had each number next to a slashed star.

"Another one?" Stella tapped to her equipment selection, and unequipped her Other Cloak. Her Colour of Pain armour was designed to deal damage to any attackers, but after nearly a year in  _OSO_ , Stella had learned that it was always better to avoid damage, and had gotten surprisingly good at doing so. She quickly tapped the equipment option and equipped the Render's Wear, and a flash of light wrapped her; when it faded, she glanced down.

Now she was mildly concerned; the discs actually  _replaced_ her feet, rather than being footwear or getting attached to the bottom. Yet she could still _feel_ her feet, despite seeing that they weren't there. She took a hesitant step forward, finding her balance was no more abnormal than if it had been greaves and gauntlets without the foot replacements; after a few paces, she reasoned that she could handle it if she simply avoided thinking about it too much. A welcome distraction was the fact that the blades in the back of the legs were absent, making her wonder how the offensive function was supposed to work.

After a moment, she tried drawing her Seven-Shots. Sure enough, with a flash and an ominous energy hum, the blue blades appeared out the back of her greaves; that was quickly forgotten when a transparent blue light manifested around her  _head_ , and she raised her gaze to find a crown of cobalt hovering around her.

"That is... creepy." She quickly went to her equipment selection and reequipped her Other Cloak; she didn't want her friends to see this one. Once it had appeared around her, she made her way to the warp orb and spoke.

"Teleport: Town of Endings."

* * *

Upon arriving, Stella made her way to a billboard not far from the warp orb. Three hundred and fifty-eight days after the launch, most of the goddesses had been discovered, and some more organized (and less combative) players had made it their business to put that information where everyone could find it.

 _ Green Goddess _  
_Weapon: large scythe_  
_Commands two giant skulls_  
_Controls undead monsters_  
_Codename: Dead Master_

 _ Red Goddess _  
_Weapon: saw-edged sword_  
_Possesses eyes throughout domain_  
_Unarmed combat ability_  
_Codename: Black Gold Saw_

 _Orange Goddess  
Weapon: giant fists_  
_Domain constantly changes_  
_Ranged weapon capability_  
_Codename: Strength_

 _Yellow Goddess  
Weapon: sword and shield_  
_Feet function as wheels_  
_Rides massive crawler_  
_Codename: Chariot_

 _ Blue Goddess _  
_Weapon: cannon_  
_Multiform weapon changes_  
_Expansive domain with no cover_  
_Possibly multiple different domains_  
_Codename: Black Rock Shooter_

Stella had been hearing players talk about barely surviving encounters with the goddesses for a few months now. Every time she heard them, it was frightening - the idea that Shattered Star had taken the likenesses of the five testers of  _Otherworld_ and turned them into such powerful creatures, and that those likenesses were now responsible for a thousand player deaths  **at least**. After the last time they had seen a goddess fight, Stella had said that the faces of her friends wouldn't be a problem... but now she wasn't so sure.

"Hey, Stella!

The call knocked her out of her reverie; Stella turned to find Ron approaching her, wearing his faux-equip garb in the form of the Shadow Coat from the Survivalist Jungle. "Hey," Stella greeted. "Am I the first one here?"

"Looks like," Ron admitted. Glancing down at her holstered pistol; "Still working your Seven-Shots, huh?"

"Did you really think I was gonna let it go?" Stella inquired.

Ron angled his head. "Well..."

Stella knew what he was thinking. Her obtaining not one but  _two_ weapons with Black Blade-esque 'scaled to your level, alters your stats' effects had earned her Ron's formerly-joking title of  Luckiest Bitch in  _OSO_ , and Ram - who still had some unpleasant memories about her old party - had not been happy to see her almost  **soloing** a week of encounters. After what could only be described as an explosive argument, Ron had made the party a proposition; the six of them would go their separate ways for a while, do some leveling on their own, and would only meet up if their paths crossed. Nana had been the only one to object, offering an addendum that they add one another to their friend lists; if there was anything that was significantly outside their skill level, but looked promising, they could send out a message to band together for the encounter.

"I don't suppose you picked up anything new in the City of Farewell?" she asked.

"...Maybe," Stella murmured. "But don't mention it."

Ron got a curious look on his face, but quickly assured her, "I won't."

* * *

By the time the sun was on its way down, Nana, then Acta and Nico, then Ram had all arrived at the Town of Endings. Ram eyed Stella's pistol unpleasantly before turning to Ron. "So, what are these encounters you mentioned?"

"Players have been reporting a group of enemies wandering the plains," Ron explained. "They look  _human_ , but they're not players - their movements are too artificial and their voices are obviously synthesized. Apparently, this is supposed to be a once-a-game encounter - they go down, they never come up again. And they say defeating them is guaranteed to drop their weapons and armour."

Nana blinked. "That sounds familiar. That sounds like..."

"The goddesses," Acta realized. "If you defeat the goddesses, they always drop their weapons and armour."

"So this is like... some kind of test run for fighting the goddesses?" Nico wondered.

"I guess so," Nana mused. "Should we go see what they're like?"

"I don't know," Ram admitted. "What kind of level are they expecting players to be at for this? If this ends up like... what do they call her now, Chariot? We would all be dead before we even had the chance to react."

Stella opened her menu. "What level are we all at? I just hit 75."

"78," Nana replied.

"72," Acta and Nico answered at once.

"70, even," Ron admitted.

"...75," Ram murmured.

"I think we should be good," Stella insisted, tapping something on her menu. "The healing crystalist in the City sells temporary-invincibility crystals. If things look like they're gonna go south, I can shield us, then we can fall back and maybe turn it into a raid."

Nana chuckled at that. "A raid?" she mused. "It takes long enough to arrange those when you can make contact IRL."

Stella nodded. "That's why it's the backup plan," she mused.

"Sounds good," Acta agreed.

"Yeah," Nico agreed, "I'm up for it."

"Fine," Ram muttered. Then, aiming a finger at Stella, "But you're going in first."

Ron turned to her. "That's not-"

"No, no," Stella assured him. "That makes sense." Looking around at everyone's weapons; "Unless someone else stole a kill from someone a _lot_ higher level, I'll still have the highest damage-dealing capacity and the best defensive chance." Then, tapping her invulnerability crystals to manifest them; "But if I go down, then someone else needs to activate the invulnerability in order to get close enough to use a revival."

She tossed a crystal to each of her friends, who caught them unhesitatingly. "That's a plan," Ron agreed. "Let's grab a few rooms at the inn and head for the plain first thing in the morning."

Nico scoffed. "When was the last time 'first thing in the morning' meant the same thing for all of us?" he accused.

"Then we make sure we all know what rooms we're in," Ron proposed, "and whoever gets up first knocks until the others are awake."

Acta chuckled awkwardly. "I could sleep through a Thunderflash if it didn't hit me," she admitted. "I'm not sure you could get me up."

"Why don't we double up, then?" Nana asked. "They have rooms for two. As long as the heavy sleepers are in separate rooms, physical contact should be enough to wake us up."

"I'll room with Acta," Nico insisted.

"I'm a bit of a heavy sleeper myself," Ram admitted.

Nana took the initiative. "I'l room with you."

"Then that means you and me," Ron observed to Stella.

"No arguments here," Stella insisted.

* * *

Whoever had designed the inns had accounted for multiple players in the same room, but whoever had designed the inn  _menu_ had assumed that the most common would be single players per room - and made it all the more difficult to get multi-player rooms. After some trouble, they had their divisions - Acta and Nico in one room, Nana and Ram in the next room, and Ron and Stella across the hall.

Once they were inside, Ron closed the door - which meant that nobody could hear inside - before turning to Stella. "So?"

Stella realized what he was asking, and opened her menu; then she unequipped her Other Cloak, revealing the armour she still had equipped beneath it.

"Woah," Ron murmured.

"Yeah, woah," Stella admitted, tapping the Render's Wear to bring up its stats and then turning the menu to face Ron.

The slashed stars told Ron what he wanted to know. "So that's why you didn't want Ram to know about it," he observed.

"After the way she reacted to my Seven-Shots," Stella admitted, "I didn't want to piss her off."

Ron shook his head. "You asked if anyone else wanted it. And you even offered to sell them. Why did she get so mad over it?"

He swept at the menu to send it back to Stella, who sighed as she closed the stat display. "Remember her old party?" she mused. "The hardcores with the Black Blades?"

"They all got slaughtered by the yellow goddess," Ron muttered, "how could I forget them?"

"I was using mine up until I got the Beast Blade," Stella reminded him. "And then I ditched it as soon as I was sure of what it did. I'm not proud to admit it, but I've never gotten a drop that had greater offensive stats than a slashed star. I think that mindset just kind of gets her angry."

"She's painting you with the same brush," Ron observed. "That's... not even fair."

"I guess not."

She unequipped her Beast Blade and Seven-Shots before doing the same to her Render's Wear, catching Ron off-guard as the default outfit appeared. "Wait... you go to bed unequipped?"

"Anyone who can fall asleep with a gun sticking in their side and a gangplank on their back has something wrong with them," Stella insisted, closing her menu. "Honestly, if I had the choice I'd probably sleep in my underthings."

Ron's face turned bright red. "That's... a bit more information than I required," he admitted.

"Sorry." Stella turned to him. "What about you? Don't you sleep unequipped?"

"This isn't that uncomfortable," Ron admitted.

"I don't know how anyone can fall asleep fully clothed and still be properly rested the next day," Stella insisted. "Unless it's a matter of passing out from exhaustion."

"So, you won't be sleeping tonight, then?" Ron observed.

Stella shrugged. "This is thin enough I can get more-or-less comfortable," she admitted, grabbing the hem of her tank top, "but I've still been waking up a little drowsier than I probably ought."

"Oh, you haven't..."

Ron's trailing off caught Stella's attention. "I haven't what?"

An incredibly awkward expression decorated Ron's face, and he turned away. "Um... I don't suppose you've done much digging around under  _User Settings_?"

"What's all under there?" Stella wondered, opening her menu again. A tap of the  _User Settings_ button brought up the options. "The logout button is missing, they don't allow avatar customization..." She tapped the only remaining button, which brought up options for her heads-up display, and added, "I've never been one for customizing my HUD."

"...Lower," Ron insisted, still not facing her. Confused, Stella scanned through the options, finding there were enough to require scrolling the menu. 

 _Text colour [expand]_  
_Font options [expand]_  
_HUD size [expand]_  
_Show HUD [Y|N]_  
_Show party [Y|N]_  
_Menu size [expand]_  
_Menu settings [expand]_  
_Ethics Code [expand]_

"Ethics Code?" Stella's finger hovered over the option. "What's this?" Before Ron had the chance to answer, she tapped the selection, causing a dialogue box to pop up.

"... **What!?** "

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be honest: did I scare anyone into thinking Stella had survived a party kill between last chapter and this one?
> 
> Now I'm picturing this fic as a Tales game, and the 'title get' fanfare playing with a dialogue box [Stella earned the title "Luckiest Bitch in OSO"] appearing.


	25. BEAST

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. New Year's is a pain in the ass. I blitzed right through this chapter so I wouldn't have to deal with the complexity of changing the date for the new year. See, this is another reason why the Chapter Publication Date should auto-update if it's left untouched.
> 
> Yes, I am fully aware that I have established Acta as the youngest member of the party. Children can get VERY foul-mouthed when things are going south.

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Sword Artist  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Valkyrie  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Ninjutsu  
Weapon: Halo  
Weapon: Spell Card  
Garb: False Armour (Shadow Coat)

Acta  
Armour: Lumberjack  
Weapon: Gaia  
Weapon: Mighty Shield  
Garb: Blackjack

Nico  
Armour: Prisoner  
Weapon: Chained Hands  
Garb: Freelance

Ram  
Armour: Heartbreak  
Weapon: Guarded Blade  
Weapon: Sister's Promise  
Garb: White Dress

"That's the demigods, then?"

Ron had led the search for the enemies they were looking for - a set of five figures that looked like they were having a rather nasty-looking argument. Three of them were indeed designed to be human: one was a boy in purple and black with messy blonde hair, a sword at his waist; one was a girl in white and green with long blonde twintails, something bladed on the back of her hand; and one was a man in black with shoulder-length red hair, an axe at his waist and a sword on his back. One  _seemed_ human, at first, but on closer inspection was decidedly not; a feminine figure in several hues of blue, what appeared to be it hair tapering off with a fish-tail, was floating at the man's side. The last could never be mistaken for human; what seemed to be a black panther or lynx, with a tail ending in a clawed hand, was standing at the girl's side.

The party had found them in a slight dip in the field, from far enough that they could eye them from over the nearest ridge. At Nana's inquiry, Ram glanced at her. "Demigods? Really?"

"They look like they're on the verge of getting into a fight themselves," Nico observed.

"Yeah, apparently they clash with each other after a while," Ron mused. "But they can't deal damage to each other until a player has their aggro."

"Wait, they can only deal damage..." Acta shook her head. "How does that help?"

Ron aimed his fingers at them warily. "The redhead and the blue thing are on one team, and the couple and the cat are on another. Once you're in a fight with them, they're not gonna slow down the attack if, say, the girl goes to hit you and it'll hit the redhead when you dodge. And if she ends up killing the redhead, then his drops are part of the rewards for whoever takes _her_ out."

Stella chuckled. "I wasn't expecting a melee."

"You're still going first," Ram snapped.

"I know," Stella insisted, opening her menu. She quickly manifested a crystal and closed the menu before holding it before her. Then, on receiving looks; "Battle healing crystal. Auto-regenerates 600 points every ten seconds. If this goes south, I think we'd all rather  _not_ need to blow a revival."

"Agreed," the party chorused.

The man drew his sword and axe; the boy drew his sword, and the blade on the girl's arm seemed to expand to cover a full circle as she raised it before her. "They're starting to fight," Ram said quickly, "go now!"

Clutching the crystal tight, Stella shot to her feet and charged forward as the three crossed weapons. The blue creature raised her hand, and bubbles began to appear around her; but the lynx leapt forward, striking her with a powerful blow. As she neared, Stella drew her Seven-Shots and raised it towards the clashing weapons; two bullets hit the girl, two hit the boy, one struck the redhead, and the last pair collided with a hand-to-paw clash between the blue and the lynx, causing HP bars to appear around each of them. A cry of "Regen!" shattered her crystal, and her now-empty hand went up to seize her Beast Blade; as she pulled it off her back, the blade-lock faltered, and the girl charged at Stella, causing her to skid to a halt. When the enemy gave a(n audibly synthesized) battle cry and proceeded into a flurry of swings with the hand-mounted spinning blade, Stella couldn't move fast enough to stop four of five blows from striking her.

The battle healing almost cleared it entirely on the first blip.

"That's it?"

Then the boy charged forward, landing a wicked slash across her sword arm, and that dealt at least  _thrice_  as much damage.

"Okay, that's a little harder!"

The rest of the party charged after Stella as the redhead made to strike at her; she quickly raised her Beast Blade to meet his axe, causing him to reel back as the boy went for another swing. A quick duck meant that slash continued into the redhead as Stella fired her Seven-Shots at the girl; the lynx leapt at her while her back was turned, earning a hard blow with her sword to throw it into the blue...  _thing_ again before it could hurt her. The axman struck the boy once to knock him back before thrusting his sword at Stella, who only knocked it aside with her Seven-Shots so it collided with the girl again.

The girl raised her spinning blades... and Nico grabbed her by the arm, turning her around with a yell.

"Ooh, I wouldn't do that!"

He slammed a punch into her face, causing her to stumble back and putting her in range of Acta's swing. The party had been pleasantly surprised to discover that  _axes_ fell under the same weapons category - and attack mechanics - as hammers did, while dealing significantly more damage in the process. The blow knocked the girl off her feet, throwing her near the boy; both of them were quickly struck with Ron's golden chakram, which arced around and glanced off the blue creature in the process. Ram was up in its face in an instant with a slam of her shield; when the black one leapt at her, she redirected her shield to catch its strike, and at the same time slammed a solid thrust into the blue one.

She quickly wrenched the blade out and followed with an upward slash before slamming the blade down on the black one, which tumbled back from the blow. This gave Nana an opportunity to run it through with one of her swords - which, in truth, was more like a spearhead on a shorter handle, and aerodynamically designed for thrusting - and deal a few swipes with her Black Blade. A synthesized yell caused her to turn, raising the dark weapon to meet the boy's, and she quickly thrust at him to knock him off guard before slashing a few times with both swords, ending with a parallel slash that knocked him into a spin.

That spin put his face on the receiving end of a blast of brightness; Ron's latest projectile weapon was a set of ofuda that burst on contact with an enemy, while still returning to his inventory after the fight was over. He continued to throw them as the boy started to charge him, then stepped away from a thrust and put his chakram in its path. Some slight HP damage from the blow glancing over his fingers was a small price to pay when the blade was within his ring, he quickly twisted it to lock the steel and dragged it over the boy's head, driving his knee into his stomach to knock him back and then pulling his chakram off and throwing it after him.

The throw also slashed through the blue creature, stunning her enough that her bombardment of bubbles let up on Acta's shield. She quickly closed the distance and started swinging her axe  - a broad-headed thing with blades like butterfly wings - striking the blue creature with one and then two diagonal blows before turning it in hand so the flat of the blades collided. The strike gave her blow more propulsive force, knocking the blue thing away; a synthesized man's roar caused her to turn, raising the shield on her arm to block a sword blow and then moving her axe to meet the swing his followed through with.

She slammed another flat blow to knock him back; the redhead having his feet on the ground, however, meant that he wasn't thrown so much as sent stumbling. That stumbling took him in front of Nico, who quickly slammed a two-fisted punch into the man's stomach. An outward sword swing was ducked under, and the hand holding it struck with a solid punch; then an  _inward_ swing was narrowly deflected against his gauntlets - which were chained together at the cuffs. He quickly grabbed man's sword arm with one hand  and seized his axe hand with another, forcibly crossing them against each other and finding that dealt HP damage.

Nico quickly knocked him into another spin before delivering a straight-legged kick to throw him forward; this put him in the path of a wide swing from Stella's Beast Blade as she struck the black creature and then the blue, firing her Seven-Shots rapidly as she did. She halted her rotational momentum and quickly ducked under a claw-thrust from the black one; it struck the blue one instead, who retaliated by manifesting a geyser that launched the lynx into the air. Stella thrust her sword at the blue one, firing a few barrages while the cat was still in the air; fast movement behind her caused her to wrench the blade out and slam the butt of her pistol into the blue thing, and she quickly fired another few barrages at her.

The shots were enough to finish it off, and its body started to turn to water; then she turned her blade on the lynx, whose body became a black smoke.

Their shattering caused the boy and the redhead to halt midswing - then the boy raised his hand, and the dark mist started to surge towards him. The man crossed his weapons above his head, and the water flowed towards their meeting; Stella and her party quickly gave them and the girl a wide berth as power started to rip up around them. A scarf on the boy's garb started to flail around as though in a fierce wind, and his skin paled as his eyes began to glow red; then flames burst up around the redhead, whose hair seemed to turn into what looked like moving _lava_.

"Shit!" Stella yelped. "Wrong order!"

The boy seemed to vanish, reappearing at her side, and she quickly moved her Beast Blade in the way of his sword - and when it collided, she found herself struggling to keep the lock, bracing the blade against her leg to give it more support. The girl charged her with the spinning blades raised, and in desperation Stella moved her Seven-Shots to block it - and was very relieved when she found she could. The relief didn't last long as man charged forward, and Stella had no chance to react before he slammed the blade down, cutting off  _half_ her HP bar as she was knocked out of the deadlock; the lack of resistance meant the couple's blows both collided with him, but that was a small comfort as she got to her feet.

Ron hurled his chakram forward, slashing all three of the remaining enemies and causing them to turn to him. The couple charged forward, and Ram and Acta moved to meet the incoming attacks on their shields; the girl's blow was blocked successfully against Acta's plate, but the boy's strike sent Ram tumbling back, her shield only _just_ preventing it from dealing HP damage. The man charged after them, and Nana struck the couple before moving her swords to defend against his swings - yet the moment they collided with her weapons, her attempt at guarding faltered, and she took a nasty blow that nearly finished her off as the strikes continued into the other two. Nico drove another two-fisted punch into the man's stomach, only to find his target hardly flinching before the girl started slashing him with her wrist-mounted blades, causing him to leap away. Ron opened his menu, catching all of their attention; he barely had time to manifest a healing crystal before the boy was right up in his face, and he barely managed to dive out of the way of the strike, yelling "Heal!" to shatter the crystal.

The group got to their feet, Acta swearing under her breath. "This is a whole lot harder now!" she protested.

"Any other great ideas, Stella?" Nico demanded.

"One, yeah," Stella muttered, holstering her pistol. "Get me five seconds!"

She opened her menu; the flaming man made to charge her, but Nico managed to lock the chains on his gauntlets around his axe arm, giving the brawler enough leverage to deliver a much stronger kick that got the man's attention. The boy vanished again, but Ron hurled a few ofuda; the connections had less impact, but the visuals were still enough to stop the boy from striking before Stella was able to step back, tapping through her menu.

Her Other Cloak was highlighted, and she tapped the option to unequip it.

With a flash, the Garb vanished, revealing the Render's Wear she had equipped beneath it. The armoured black ensemble was all the more noticeable in the bright Plains of Suffering compared to the dull grasses in the Eternal Stadium; her Beast Blade was still in her left hand, and that was enough for the white-energy blades to manifest on the back of her greaves. The menacing hum drew the enemies' attention, and when she drew her pistol again, the discs of her feet shifted - positioning themselves vertical, and then extending into buzzsaws that began to spin as she turned her sword to a backhand grip.

The crown of blue light manifested around her helm as she raised her weapons.

"Bring it on, godlings!"

The boy swung his sword again; when Stella moved her Beast Blade in its way, the strike sent her spinning. She quickly raised her opposite leg, striking him with the blade on her greave and then the saw of her foot; the rapid spinning of the latter dealt multiple rapid blows as she found the flaming man charging her. A few quick rounds from her Seven-Shots connected before he was in swinging range; Stella knew better than to try and block, instead ducking under the swipes and bringing her sword back for a charging slash before she charged past him. The girl was charging her in the meantime; Stella fired a few barrages and then beat her spinning blades aside with the butt of the pistol before turning back to the empowered two.

She drove her Beast Blade into the ground; when the boy swung his sword, the ground provided enough added resistance to stop the blow. She holstered her Seven-Shots as the flaming man charged forward; then, as her feet became discs again, she pressed that hand to the ground and lifted her legs off the ground, swinging her blades at his weapons - not to block them, but to redirect the swings towards the boy.

That strike sent the boy tumbling, and she quickly righted herself, pulling her sword out of the ground as she redrew her pistol and turned her feet back to saws. The girl was charging her from behind again, but a well-aimed strike from Ram was enough to finish her off; she quickly pulled her weapon back as she girl shattered, demanding of Stella; "How did you-!?"

"Don't block their blows!" Stella said quickly, yelling to the whole party. "Get them to hit each other!"

The boy was charging them again; Stella and Ram leapt aside, Stella landing a passing blow with her saw-feet, and Nico charged at him, hooking his chains around his sword. He dragged the boy into a spin, causing him to slash at the approaching redhead. Acta quickly struck the flaming man with her axe before batting his weapons into the dark boy; the two quickly turned to their attackers, only for Nana to charge between them with dual slashes. They quickly made to retaliate, only for her to leap past them, leaving their blows to strike one another. Stella positioned herself immediately behind the flaming man, and Ron behind the boy; they each hit the other's guard at range, causing them to bypass one another with charging blows that dealt damage on the approach and then missed their evading targets entirely.

Acta struck the man, and Nico struck the boy; they turned back around and broke into rushing flurries that were easily baited into one another. The two leapt aside as Nana charged through them, striking them to provoke attacks again and then leaping aside when they retaliated - albeit this time too slow to avoid a glancing blow that still took out a solid chunk of her HP. Those blows knocked the two into the pale zone; then Ram charged the boy from behind, and he couldn't react before she drove her blade into his back, finishing off the last of him; then, when he started to shimmer, she wrenched her blade out, ducked under a swing from the flaming man, and launched a spinning strike as she passed his side.

One shattered, and then the other.

Win screens appeared before everyone, and they all gave groans of relief and exhaustion, half the party falling to a seated position. Ram slumped over, her grip on her sword faltering as she panted; Stella almost toppled over, driving her Beast Blade into the ground again - this time to keep herself upright. A long moment passed as they tried to catch their breath - then Ram raised her gaze to Stella.

"How the hell do you manage those?"

Stella blinked, confused. "Manage what?"

"Those!" Ram aimed a hand at Stella's feet - which, she realized, were still in the form of sawblades, albeit no longer spinning.

"Oh. Um." She pulled her Beast Blade out of the ground, reaffixing it to her back; the blade edges quickly faded out as the discs shifted back to flat. "I just try not to think about it," she insisted, "the engine still assumes you have feet." She holstered her Seven-Shots, causing the blades on her greaves and the crown of light to fade out.

She was half-expecting Ram to complain or get mad; instead, a smile broke out on her face, and she doubled over. "Well, now I feel stupid for selling mine."

"Yours?" This came from Ron. "When did you get a set of Render's Wear?"

"The day after we split up," Ram replied. "I overthought the engine and was trying to move otherwise. When it didn't work, I sold it." Turning to Stella; "You were right, that makes a lot of Ai."

Stella sighed. "Are you still mad?"

Ram shook her head. "No. I was jealous and stupid for getting mad. You gave us every opportunity to take them for ourselves, and I just got jealous when you were getting all the kills. I'm sorry." She shook her head. "We never should've split the party."

Nana got to her feet. "Might I propose we go a step further than 'party'?" she offered.

Nico glanced up at her. "You mean... making a guild?" he asked.

"Well, why not?" Nana mused. "We've already got a good emblem." She aimed a finger at Stella's sword; the coat of arms on the tip was as prominent as ever. "All we need is a name."

Acta turned to Stella. "Why don't you come up with it?" she offered. "You're already pretty much our leader. And you certainly did well enough to have earned it."

Stella chuckled nervously. "Did well...? I don't know about that..."

"Oh, don't be modest," Ron reprimanded. "You're the one who figured out it would be faster to get them to hit each other. And the way you used those blades is crazy. You were fighting like a g..."

He cut himself off, and Acta turned to him. "Like a what?"

Ron had a bright red blush on his face, and something told Stella he wasn't exactly continuing what he had been  _about_ to say when he answered.

"...Like a beast."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little heavy-handed with the Symphonia references, maybe?
> 
> In a movie, the most awesome fight scenes are those in a single long take. But a lot of long-take fight scenes will briefly focus on one combatant, pan over to another combatant, then briefly focus on that combatant, maybe follow something that they launch or that zips past them to where someone else is fighting, rinse and repeat.  
> When you realize that, you have a very effective way to write a group fight scene by following the same narrative style. It's a pain in the ass to write every blow of a dozen-player smash, but you can establish that the rest of the fight is still going by switching between different players


	26. Black Rock Shooter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the equipment that wasn't on the last chapter's list was dropped by my Symphonia references. Anybody who can guess what came from which gets their name in a future chapter (assuming they guess reasonably before the story's complete). Disclaimer - nobody is using EVERYTHING from one enemy.  
> ...I hate spelling out a reference, but I'd hate it more if someone who wants to put it together and hasn't played Symphonia 'gets it wrong' because I misunderstood their descriptions, so here's their names.  
> Boy in black: Emil  
> Girl in white: Marta  
> Redhead man: Richter  
> Black creature: Tenebrae  
> Blue creature: Aqua

_365 Days Since Launch_

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Ocean's Splash  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Sword of the Spirit  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Romantic Defender  
Weapon: Water Ring  
Weapon: Bubble Edge  
Garb: False Armour (Shadow Coat)

Acta  
Armour: Shade's Fur  
Weapon: Moonlit Axe  
Weapon: Sister's Promise  
Garb: Blackjack

Nico  
Armour: Sea of Fire  
Weapon: Darkness Claws  
Garb: Freelance

Ram  
Armour: Knight of Darkness  
Weapon: Sunlit Blade  
Weapon: Spinning Blades  
Garb: White Dress

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

Ram's snarky comment as Stella stepped out of the inn in the Town of Endings earned her a mumbled "Shut up." Their guild of six - which they had decided to call Beasts \- had spent the days since their fight with the demigods on the Plain of Suffering to fight the kinds of enemies that showed up when one's level was in the seventies. To much amusement, higher levels in this region simply meant  _larger_  animals - massive snakes, bears the size of houses, and herds of buffalo that could trample a town if the buildings weren't immortal objects.

"What's the plan today?" Ron offered.

Acta scratched the back of her head. "This is gonna sound kind of stupid, but... during that last fight yesterday, I thought I saw something kind of weird."

"Weird how?" Stella asked.

"It looked like a horse," Acta explained. "Kind of, anyways. But it was all this weird... silvery colour. And it was surrounded by mist."

Nico turned to her. "You saw something in that mist?"

The other four exchanged glances; they hadn't seen anything resembling mist - but then, after the sun had started going down, they had been largely focused on getting back to town.

"Yeah," Acta confirmed, "and it didn't look like anything we'd fought so far."

Ron shrugged. "We haven't fought anything solitary on the Plain so far," he observed. "Might be worth it to check it out."

* * *

"Today makes three hundred and sixty five."

Nana's comment as they marched onto the Plain earned her a look from Stella. "What's that about?"

"It's been that many days since the launch of  _OtherSelf Online_ ," Nana explained. "Man, time flies."

"So, you've got the number memorized, do you?" Ram argued.

"A whole year," Ron muttered. "And we're still only double-digits. She wasn't kidding when she said it was a slow level system."

"One year in  _OSO_ ," Stella observed. "Four thousand, nine hundred, and twenty-six players dead."

Acta's pace came to a halt. "You think we'll ever get out of this?" she asked. "Defeat the goddesses, and leave the Otherworld?"

Nico set a hand on her shoulder. "We will."

Ron gasped. "Is that... what you were talking about?"

Everyone followed his gaze. Standing at the crest of a nearby hill was a cloud of fog - and through the fog, Stella could see the creature Acta had described. An equine figure with a thick silver coat, its mane wild and hanging at its sides; it bore horns that no horse ought, and Stella could see from the side view that it possessed four glowing eyes like garnets.

"Oh!" Stella threw a hand up to her mouth. "That's... not a combat monster. That's a fleeing bounty."

"Fleeing bounty?" Nico asked. "What's that?"

"That's what they're called in _Pacifist Nation_ ," Stella defended. "They don't try to fight you; they try to run. If you kill them, it drops more money than a pack of five of the strongest enemies the area has to offer, but they don't make it easy."

Nico chuckled. "So, we try to sneak up on it?"

Stella shook her head. "They're too sensitive for that. How's your dash speed?"

Ram drew her sword. "Count of three."

The rest of the Beasts took ready stances.

"One... two... three!"

They all shot forward; Stella wasn't the first to move, but she ended up in front. Before  _OSO_ , she had been able to throw a basketball the width of the court and then dash clear across the length by the time the recipient had caught it and bounced it once, and those legs had served her well in a year online. As the silver horse started, she drew her Seven-Shots, raising it and firing a few volleys; a couple bullets connected, but most missed as the equine creature started to gallop away. Ron drew his projectile weapons - small blue discs that looked like ripples on water's surface - and started to throw them, a couple making contact with their bounty, and it whinnied, its pace faltering slightly and briefly before resuming its dash. Stella took a few paces to the side, meaning to lead her shots so as to trick the monster's AI into thinking that a player was ahead of it, and so it would turn around.

And with her attention on something at her side, she failed to notice the rift of blue flames appearing before her.

The rest of the Beasts skidded to a halt as Stella vanished into the entrance to a goddess' domain; nobody could see anything more than the white star in the vortex before it vanished from before them.

* * *

When the blue faded, Stella's pace slowed to a stop, and she kept her hand tight on her Seven-Shots as she glanced around. She was standing upon a checkered floor, tiles of black and white extending endlessly. She could have sworn there was a ceiling above her, dark grey stone, but the area seemed to extend into nothingness; and nor was there anything to decorate that surface, leaving her vision unobscured in every direction.

_Expansive area, no cover... This is..._

A blip at the top of her HUD as she turned around had her biting back a curse; her party was gone. The domain's entrance had changed location in the Otherworld. She made to advance towards the rift, intending to get out of here; but suddenly, a massive figure slammed down before her - a titanic stalactite fallen from that ceiling above - and Stella stumbled back, aware of how threateningly close she had come to being shut down irrevocably.

One light footstep behind her.

She turned to find herself facing something she had never wanted to see. A figure stood some distance away, in a jet-black, hooded longcoat; it was undone in the front, revealing what she wore beneath - a pair of very short black shorts with a misaligned white belt, and a scant black bra to preserve her modesty. Her hands wore long black gloves that almost crested her elbows, and a black band circled her right forearm; her feet were hidden in high black boots that nearly reached her knees. The hood was raised, but its shadows were not cast enough to hide her face; a pair of stunning blue eyes glared at Stella from beneath a shock of black hair.

Black Rock Shooter.

The hand clutching her Seven-Shots began to quiver, and Stella took a wary step back. But she knew; the goddess had barred her exit, and escape was not an option. With a hissing breath, her left hand reached up and seized her Beast Blade, pulling it off her back. The goddess seemed to angle her glare before reaching for her hip - where, Stella cold have sworn was not there before, was sheathed a familiar dark sword in a ring on her belt.

 _A Black Blade? I thought they said she had a cannon!_ She glanced up at her HUD, recalling that she was alone.  _I'm only Lv 75, and it's just me... she uses a weaker weapon if it's a weak enemy?_

The sword was drawn, and an HP bar appeared above the goddess - stunning blue.

Stella made the first move, raising her Seven-Shots and pulling the trigger three times. Twenty-one bullets shot forward - but the goddess started to dash forward, and her empty right hand reached forward. A rifting effect gathered around her hand, and though Stella could have sworn the bullets collided when she closed her fingers on them, the blue HP bar didn't falter; then she held that hand to the side, and when she opened her fingers, the bullets fell to the floor with a metallic clatter.

By the time the last one hit the floor, Black Rock Shooter was in striking ranger; Stella raised her Beast Blade, and the goddess' Black Blade collided with it, sending her spinning. She turned that momentum around, swinging the heavy weapon so it collided with the goddess' side; a sliver dropped from the blue HP bar, and its owner leapt away when the blow had passed, landing a good distance away with her sword still closed in her grip.

A moment's pause; then, to Stella's amazement, a pale blue flame ignited in her left eye. The sudden gust of heat threw her hood back, letting her hair flow free - a pair of uneven black tails, one short enough to never touch her shoulder, one longer than her arm, and both adorned in messy spikes. The flame continued to burn as she raised her Black Blade again, and black stones shot up around her.

The Beast Blade turned in Stella's hand, and she seized it in a defensive reverse grip.  _If she lands one hit on me, I might end up dying. I can't let her land a single blow!_

Black Rock Shooter charged forward again - this time not even touching the ground, but propelled through the air with her feet inches off the checkered surface. Stella stepped aside of where the thrust was going to connect, raising her Beast Blade to slash the goddess; the blow crossed her side without slowing her down as her Black Blade collided with the stalactite, and it  **shattered** , massive fragments raining down around them. Stella leapt aside from one shard as it landed, finding it obscured Black Rock Shooter from her view - and her from the goddess'.

_Now I have cover._

The goddess' footsteps circled the left side; Stella raised her Seven-Shots and fired, and the bullets collided as her target rounded, already there before she could see them and robbing her of the chance to react to them. She quickly drove her Beast Blade into the ground as the goddess' sword came flying, colliding with her weapon and knocking back; she quickly jabbed her gun forward, and when the barrel slammed into the goddess' forehead she pulled the trigger, the shots slamming into her point-blank. She quickly wrenched her sword out and leapt back as another swing came at her, missing her by moments; then she charged forward when the goddess did, sword held forward to thrust at her and colliding before the Black Blade was raised to swing down.

It didn't land center, instead digging across her side - and another hit dropped from the goddess' HP as the two passed one another. Stella quickly leapt behind cover before the goddess could turn around, reaffixing her Beast Blade to her back; with fast, practiced motions, she opened her menu and seized a high-level explosive before closing the menu and priming it. Black Rock Shooter came around the side, and Stella hurled the expendable at her, the blast halting the goddess' momentum; then she vaulted her cover, and after a moment the goddess dashed through where she had been and rounded an away corner.

Another fast open and close of her menu; once she had her bomb in hand, she rounded the nearest corner, raising her Seven-Shots. The goddess was nowhere to be seen, and knowing the explosive only activated when an enemy was in proximity, she primed it and set it on the ground. She took a few steps forward and drew her sword again; the blade sliced against one of the stones, and it audibly cracked. A blur of black and blue was all the warning Stella had before the goddess was high above her; she quickly leapt aside as Black Rock Shooter came down sword-first, then slammed her Beast Blade into the goddess' side and followed through with a kick that had her tumbling.

The explosive sensed something other than the player who had primed it and went off - but this time the goddess managed to avoid the blast, leaping over it so near that Stella could see the flames lick the hem of her coat. She landed on the opposite side before aftereffects had faded, and Stella raised her weapon to defend in case she should fly out of the smoke; she was unprepared, however, for the shards of the titanic stalactite to fly into the air, reforming into the massive stone spike. When the smoke faded, the spike landed flat-end down, and Black Rock Shooter lunged forward with her sword brought back for a horizontal swing. Stella ducked under the blow with a spin, unable to stop the strike from slashing the hood of her Other Cloak and knocking it off her head, but bashing the goddess with her Seven-Shots as she passed; when the lunge halted, Stella charged forward with her Beast Blade raised.

Black Rock Shooter spun round, her empty right hand outstretched; it closed on the sword's handle and brought the slash to a halt. Stella was left with no chance to react as the goddess raised her Black Blade, intending to thrust it into her head.

It hung there for a split moment; then the blue flame vanished as the goddess' eyes widened.

"...Kohacchi!?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's ring in this New Year with a BOOM BAM!


	27. Hurtful Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, getting B★RS The Game is going to be twelve different kinds of pain in the ass. I think I'm gonna binge a playthrough on YouTube. Anybody know a good one they could link me to? Preferably without a commentary?

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Garb: Other Cloak

"Kohacchi!?"

Arata had not been addressed by that name for a year, and hearing it here - in this virtual world where she had never given it out - caught her off-guard. Stella stumbled back, her grip on the Beast Blade's handle faltering; Black Rock Shooter released the weapon, letting it clang to the ground as she lowered her Black Blade in surprise.

"How did you...?"

The goddess' eyes widened. "What? You're... You can't be."

Her Seven-Shots slipped from Stella's grip, clattering to the ground. The voice was too natural to be digitally-generated, and she had  **never** seen an AI react to a human player like that. "What are...?"

A moment of silent shock; then the goddess swept her hand down - and Stella was absolutely not prepared for a  _player menu_ to manifest in the air before her. It was a different layout of menu than  _OSO_ 's; she tapped something to bring up a submenu and then swept at it from the side so it would turn to face Stella.

_Rock - Lv 151_

"Rock...?!"

Arata's gaze shot up to the goddess, who was looking at her with an expression of concern... on a face she had seen all too often.

" **Mato!?** "

* * *

_Day 45 of the Otherworld Beta Test_

"Well, that doesn't look good."

Environmental creation in  _Otherworld_ had provided some interesting results, both individually and conflicting. If two people tried to change something isolated from each other - like Yew turning the skies red while Dead made a green fog appear around them - there wasn't much difficulty. Two people trying to change the same thing - like Gold and Mary both attempting to change the colour of the white stone beneath them - had turned into a battle of concentration; as soon as Mary's focus had faltered (courtesy of a nudge from Yew), the white had turned a deep black. Two people trying to generate something in the same place - like Rock creating a spike of black stone while Mary summoned a giant stuffed bear - had adverse effects; the end result had been a giant  _stone_ bear that had both of them screaming before Rock gave it a SHG blast with her ★rock Cannon.

White was amused as the pieces rained down around them; she opened her GM menu, sliding something at the side. "What if I...." She quickly tapped out messages for Rock and Dead, giving them instructions; this time, when Rock tried to make another black stone spike, it appeared without any unpleasant surprises.

"Did you do something?" Dead asked.

"I gave Rock a higher dominance rating in this area," White explained. "But is that retroactive if I..." She slid something again. "Okay, no. Things are static until someone does something to them."

Yew took that as incentive to punch the spike, causing it to shatter.

"Okay," White mused, "so direct clash is a concentration effort; indirect clash has differently adverse effects, but any difference in dominance overrules entirely." She tapped out new messages, sending them to Dead and Gold; after a moment, the skies turned pale grey, while the stone beneath them became red dirt. "No limits for different dominance ratings if there's no clash. Interesting." She started tapping something on her other side. "I've already generated different regions so that each of you has a 100% dominance rating in one location. I want you guys to create your ideal residence, alright?"

Six doors seemed to open from thin air, one behind each player; the beta testers turned as White closed her menu. "Yeah," Rock insisted. "No problem. Let's-"

A screech like someone had bashed a microphone; everybody's hands shot up to cover their ears, but that wasn't enough to stop them from hearing Yew's screamed "What the hell!?"

Gold tried to step forward. "What's... going-!?"

The world seemed to dematerialize, starting from the horizon - yet it had reached them before they had barely noticed, and the world was consumed in black once more.

* * *

Rock lost consciousness at some point; when she woke, she was lying in an empty wooden room. There were no doors nor windows; she got to her feet and glanced around, panicking when she realized she was alone.

"Yew? Dead!?" She glanced around. "Mary! Gold!"

_"Hello!? Can everyone hear me!?"_

Rock's gaze shot up. "White!"

 _"Two, three, four... five."_ White's voice was panicked.  _"Something's happened. I think_ Otherworld _'s been hacked from outside! I can't log out - I can't even force a logout! I've lost half of my GM privileges!"_

"What..." Rock opened her menu, opening the User Settings to find that there was no logout option for her, either. "Dammit."

 _"I managed to switch everybody over to their 100% dominance region,"_ White explained.  _"I hate that I have to say this, but... make yourselves comfortable. I don't know how long it'll be until someone can pull the plug on us and let our NervGears run out."_

A horrifying despair washed over Rock as realization struck her; as long as she was plugged into her NervGear, she was at the mercy of the system. If the system wouldn't let them disconnect, there was no way they could go back to the real world.

"No..."

* * *

_1 Year Into the Development of OtherSelf Online_

A loud crash pulled Rock from the depths of sleep. How they had survived in  _Otherworld_ for this long was a mystery - she could only assume that they were on life support in the real world, although she wondered how or why their NervGears hadn't been affected - but the effects of the 100% dominance region ensured that there was little  **physical** discomfort. Rock's region was currently a giant glass chessboard that she had put together out of sheer boredom; her bed was sitting behind the black pieces, and that crash had been the white king being knocked over. Rock was shocked to see that there was a large boar-like creature standing at the base of the shattered glass.

"What the-!?"

 _"Watch out!"_ White's voice echoed around her as she drew her Black Blade - they'd received almost weekly updates regarding the state of _Otherworld_ , but she had reported almost no activity. Now, however, her voice was panicked again. _"Someone's started running the encounter engine! The game's going to be throwing monsters at you almost non-stop! You have to set up defenses!"_

Her ★rock Cannon manifested on her arm, and Rock raised it at the boar, firing a few RF shots to take it out. The black castles started to waver; a Black Blade appeared in Rock's left hand, and she drew it back and slashed it horizontally, causing the pieces around her to shatter. A pack of canine figures barked before charging towards her, but with another swing of her blade, the glass shards, hanging in the air, daggered towards the wolves and eliminated them.

_Defenses, huh?_

Rock closed her eyes; and around her, the region shifted. The walls faded out, and the checkerboard pattern extended in every direction. The roof faded out as well, and the skies became a stone cave's ceiling with black stalactites reaching down. Figures appeared around her, not abstract pieces but humanoid structures; knights on horseback brandishing lances, holy men with long staves, giant birds the size of towers, and soldiers brandishing longbows. A woman's figure bore a crown of blue, with a black-and-blue pistol in one hand and a massive emblazoned blade in the other; and a man stood at her side, similarly crowned, with shining blades upon his legs and whirling blue sawblades for feet.

A pale blue flame ignited as Rock opened her eyes.

" **I will hurt you.** "

* * *

_1 Day Before the Launch of OtherSelf Online_

A Silver Titan shattered under the ★rock Cannon 's LNC mode; Rock hit the ground and surveyed the area, ready for the next wave. When her body grew tired, she would create an enclosed space - a soundproofed space - and her pieces would fight in her stead. When she was awake, she was ashamed to admit that she took pride in striking the monsters down herself - and completely destroying them as she did. To her confusion, however, there was no next wave; she lowered her cannon, looking around for an enemy.

Something appeared before her; a human figure in black, with long red hair. A sword was sheathed at its hip, and a long axe hooked on its back; on seeing her, the man drew his weapons, with an audibly synthesized yell of _"Come on!"_ At his side appeared a blue figure - a humanoid shape, but different enough that it was no attempt at seeming human. Footsteps behind her drew her attention to see two more human figures - two blondes, a short-haired boy in black and a twintailed girl in white - with a black feline creature at their side; on seeing her, the boy drew a longsword, and a pair of blades on the back of the girl's hand began to spin.

"This is different," Rock muttered.

Her ★rock Cannon switched to GTL mode; she raised the triple-barreled weapon and fired, bombarding them with shots. The human monsters went down in short order; the black feline and the blue humanoid were somewhat more evasive targets, but with some persistence they were eventually shot down as well. Once she was alone again, Rock dismissed her cannon, finding shapes scattered across the ground - terrifying realization hit her as she realized they were weapons and armour, and weapons of  _her_ design, and the designs her friends had creating.

 _"Hello!?"_ White's voice again; Rock hadn't heard her since the monsters began appearing.  _"Something's changed in the enemy generation. They're not using monster designs anymore; they're creating human enemies using the equipment you guys have worked on. And they've randomized the spawn times - they're trying to get you to lower your guard!"_

Rock swore; this was a complication she didn't need. Glancing up at the ceiling of the cavern she had created, she leapt skyward; far higher than  _Otherworld_ 's engine would have let her a year ago, for she'd gained a hundred levels since then. At the peak of her jump, white rippled out around her foot, and she kicked off the air to propel herself higher again, reaching the black stone ceiling. The stone shifted, forming a room for her; just barely large enough for her to stand upon, leaving no space for anything human to stand.

Bells in pale blue formed around the supports - they would ring when an enemy appeared.

Then she made herself comfortable, to await the next enemy.

* * *

_1 Year Since Launch_

A single bell's ringing pulled her from slumber - an enemy had appeared. As Rock got to her feet, her clothing changed from a loose set of pajamas to her Shooter's Jacket with its hood raised; a band appeared on her arm as her ★rock Cannon was equipped, and a Black Blade manifested, sheathed on her belt. A stalactite fell from the ceiling as she stepped to the edge of her resting place - for enemies had always appeared from a single location since the change to humanoid opponents, and Rock had found that blocking off that location would prevent them from trying to flee, and then returning at full strength.

Willing  _Otherworld_ to give her a closer look revealed a single enemy standing there - a figure in an all-consuming black cloak. However, attached to the enemy's back was a massive sword... and not just any sword, but the sword she had spawned on her queen two years ago, down to the finest detail. In the enemy's hip was holstered the queen's black-and-blue pistol, firing seven shots at every pull of the trigger - but even so, it was alone, and although the enemies had gotten stronger over a year, Rock had taken out every enemy from yesterday with a single RF shot.

She leapt from her platform, and as she neared the checkerboard surface, her fall slowed to a halt, such that her left foot made a sound as it connected but her right foot did not as it followed suit. The enemy turned, the gun hand shaking, and after a moment it drew the massive blade; Rock glared at her for a moment before reaching for her Black Blade, drawing it in her left hand and raising it readily.

Her enemy reacted first, raising the pistol and firing three times; Rock only dashed forward, reaching her right hand forward. She willed  _Otherworld_ to gather the bullets in her hand, and they did; once she had stopped them all, she held the weapons at her side and let them fall before swinging her Black Blade. It collided with the great sword and sent the enemy into a spin - which ended with a round slash that caught Rock by surprise. She leapt back, putting the enemy ten paces away as she glanced at her HP bar; it hadn't done a great deal of damage, but this was the first time an enemy had managed to actually  _land a hit_.

Whoever had designed these human enemies had given them AI for theatrics; Rock knew that they could be intimidated. Her blue flame ignited in her left eye, and the heat threw her hood back to let her uneven twintails flow free.

* * *

" **Mato!?** "

The goddess -  _Mato_ stumbled back, shocked. "You  _are_ Kohacchi," she gasped.

"How are you here!?" Arata demanded. "How are you even  **alive!?** Shattered Star headquarters blew up! They  _found your body!_ "

"What!?" Mato was honestly shocked by that. "No, I've been here.  **We've** been in this game for three years. What..." She shook her head. "What are you doing in  _Otherworld?_ "

Arata was shocked by that. "I'm... not," she insisted. " _Otherworld_ was canceled. "This is  _OtherSelf Online_."

" _OtherSelf..._?"

"Jonzen Black was dead, too," Arata insisted. "Nobody else could run the engine, so they decided to use what you've done in a new game. It came out a year ago, and..."

She fell quiet, glancing around the domain. There were no grave markers here; and yet, if they had information...

"Mato..." Arata turned to her. "I'm not the the first one you've fought, am I?"

"I've..." Mato closed her eyes, briefly, and a dialogue box appeared before her - a very small box, barely large enough for four characters and the confirm button. "You're the one thousand eight hundred and eightieth enemy I've fought." Arata almost screamed, stumbling back, and Mato raised her gaze as she tapped the confirmation. "But... why does it matter? If-" Her gaze shot up. "Wait, you said a year? Those have all been players of this... _OtherSelf_ game?

"I think so," Arata forced out. "And... you killed them all?"

Her choice of words seemed to surprise Mato. "I... I think so," she admitted. "I didn't realize I was a boss."

Arata took a heavy breath, scared to say this - because she knew what it meant.

"Mato... We've been  **trapped** in  _OtherSelf Online_ for a year. We can't log out. And if our avatars die... then the NervGear overloads... and kills us."

Her words had a prominent effect on Mato, whose eyes widened in terror.

"You've  _killed_  almost two thousand players. Here, and in the real world."

"What...?" Mato stumbled back. "I've... I've done what!?" Her gaze went down to her hands. "I... I didn't... I didn't know!"

Tears began to well in her eyes.

"I didn't know...!"

Arata stepped forward, putting her arms around Mato; and Mato buried her face in her upperclassman's shoulder and let the tears flow.

* * *

"What do we do?"

When at last Mato's sorrow had given way to determination, those were the first words out of her mouth. Arata shook her head. "If we want to escape  _OSO_ ," she explained, "we have to find the five 'goddesses', then defeat them and take their equipment. But..." She shook her head. "If you're one of them... then that means the other four are..."

"The rest of the  _Otherworld_ testers," Mato realized. "Yuu, and Saya, and Kagari, and... Yomi." She shook her head. "Have you seen any of the others?"

"We had a bad run-in with Izuriha early on," Arata admitted. "She... took out a few hardcores who were trying to PK us and didn't believe  _OSO_ was gonna kill us. And... I saw one of the others after about half a year, but I didn't get close enough to see who it was." She raised her gaze to Mato. "You... you should come back with me."

"Back?"

"Into  _OSO_ ," Arata elaborated, getting to her feet. "Nobody in  _OSO_ has a three-digit level, yet; you five are killing us in single hits. And if your domains are still running like  _Otherworld_ did, you're the only ones who can change them. We need to tell the others what's going on. And we're gonna need your help to do that."

"Alright..." Mato stood up, raising her hood.

Stella quickly opened her menu. "Also... Rock." She brought up her stats and turned the menu to face her. "Don't tell anyone you're one of the goddess until we meet up with my guild, okay?"

Rock sighed. "I won't... Stella."

The two linked hands; then they made their way towards where the portal lingered, and as they passed through, neither dared to let go.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some days, you really want to do something productive.  
> Some days, you feel like absolute bullshit.
> 
> I hate when those days coincide.


	28. Otherworld, Other Self

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, now we're getting mildly serious. I bet you guys I can have this story done by February.

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: Other Cloak

"So cold!"

Rock's yelp as they left the portal echoed the last time Stella had heard her voice before  _OtherSelf Online_ ; recognizing her surroundings, she quickly opened her menu with a curse. "Of  _course_ it deposits me in the middle of Storm Tundra. Doesn't that figure."

She switched out her Other Cloak for cold-resistant garb, drawing Rock's attention. "What's that?"

"Extreme temperatures drain your HP," Stella replied. Then, glancing at Rock; "Er... well, drain  _our_  HP. Doesn't it do that for you?"

Rock's eyes glanced up at her HUD. "Doesn't look like it," she admitted.

Stella shrugged, looking over her; Rock's outfit wasn't what you'd call modest, and any human with a respectable figure knew better than to exercise that freedom in the cold. "You still might want to change, though."

"Good point..."

A flash of light wrapped Rock's body, catching Stella off-guard; when it faded, she was wearing a black fur-lined longcoat. "Woah," Stella murmured. "That's...  _Otherworld_?"

"Yeah," Rock confirmed. "Sorry, three years in there and it's almost gotten second-nature. I guess it still lets me do that in  _OtherSelf_. But, can I...?" She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. "Nope, I can't do anything to the surrounding area."

"That's probably for the best," Stella observed. "You already look a little conspicuous. Come on."

A prompt button appeared before her, almost invisible against the snow, as she and Rock started towards the northern checkpoint. She quickly opened it up to find it was a message- no, make that  _seven_ messages from Nana.

 _Stella! Please tell me you're still alive!_  
_Answer ASAP!_  
_Please don't be dead_  
_Stella, please still be alive!_  
_I'm not getting rebounds, are you alive?_  
_Stella, please!_

"Shit," Stella muttered, opening the reply function, "the domain must stop me from receiving messages."

"That makes sense," Rock admitted. "We're supposed to be bosses, right? The last thing you'd want is to get taken out because someone's trying to talk to you."

_Nana, I'm still alive!_

Stella tapped  **send** and turned to Rock. "Spoken like someone who's had that problem before," she argued.

"What," Rock argued with a smile, "your mom never tried to get you to log out in the middle of a meeting with Kaede?" 

That name caused Stella's face to fall, turning away. "Three years and that's what you remember?"

Another message button popped up as Rock giggled. "I was never going to forget," she insisted.

"Drop it, please," Stella insisted, opening the new message. "I don't want to talk about her."

_Stella! We're still in the Plain, where are you right now!?_

Rock raised an eyebrow. "Her?"

"It's a long story," Stella insisted, tapping out her response; and Rock didn't press the matter.

_I'll meet you in the Town of Endings, see you there!_

* * *

By some fortune, they didn't run into anything between the domain exit and the north Blizzard Checkpoint, where Stella changed back to her Other Cloak; she quickly located the warp orb, and Rock (who had also changed back to her jacket, albeit closing the front) kept a hand tight on her shoulder as she teleported them back to the Town of Endings. Once they were there, Stella intended to make her way to a room at the inn - she was sidetracked, however, when Rock saw something not far from the warp.

"What's this?"

Her gaze was on the information billboard; Stella came up to her side, keeping her voice low. "Information on the goddesses of the Otherworld," she explained. "If anyone survives a fight, they come here and speak with the players who are renting the notice space."

" _Dead Master,_ " Rock murmured. "That's..." She chuckled weakly. "They practically grabbed her user ID, she's 'Dead'. And Gold... yeah  _Black Gold Saw_. I can't help but wonder if this was some of Yomi and Kagari's friends." Her small smile faltered. " _Strength..._  That's Yew. And  _Chariot..._ that's Mary." Her gaze fell upon the last note. "Then... this is..."

"Stella!" The male voice across the plaza caught their attention; Stella turned to find the rest of the Beasts charging towards her. And at high speed - she had no time to brace herself before Ron slammed into her, knocking her to the ground with a white flash to warn her that it would have caused HP damage outside a safe zone. "You're alive!"

"Didn't..." Stella set a hand on his arm to get him to step off. "Didn't Nana tell you I sent her replies?"

"I was scared to believe it," Ron admitted as they got to their feet. "What if the domain dropped you in front of someone fighting a dragon on Hell Mountain, or something? We're still not levelled enough to-"

He fell quiet when he realized that Stella wasn't alone; this hooded figure in a long black jacket certainly looked ominous, the way she was hiding her face. "Who's this?" Ram inquired.

Stella knew this was coming, but still didn't want to do it in the middle of town; in addition, it was getting late, and she didn't want to be unprepared. "Let's grab a room at the inn," she insisted.

* * *

She didn't get a room for seven, but she  _did_ make sure it wasn't a room for one - which were horrendously ill-suited to large groups, though a room for two had almost enough space for ten people to gather round.

Once they were all inside, Stella made sure Rock was in one direction and her guild was in the other before she spoke up. "Rock, this my guild. We call ourselves Beasts. This is Nana - she was in the  _OSO_ beta test. This is Ron, he's Nico, she's Acta, and that's Ram." She took a heavy breath.

"Guys... this is Black Rock Shooter."

The entire guild started at that - although neither Stella nor Rock really expected any other reaction. "What!?" Nico yelled. "This is... the blue goddess?"

"That seems to be what people call me these days," Rock observed.

"But..." Acta shook her head. "You can't be... you're not an NPC or a monster. Your voice, your movements... your  **attitude**. That's too natural."

Ram narrowed her gaze. "That mean... you're a player?"

"More or less," Rock confirmed. "But I'm not a player of  _OtherSelf Online_. I'm... one of the beta testers from  _Otherworld_."

"I call bullshit," Ram snapped. "The  _Otherworld_ testers are dead."

Rock angled her head. "So I've heard," she admitted. "But we're not. We've been alive and stuck in... what I  **thought** was  _Otherworld_ until Stella walked in."

"Prove it," Ram demanded.

Ron grabbed her shoulder. "How would she do that?"

Before anyone could respond, the blue flame in Rock's left eye lit again; everyone stumbled back as the heat threw her hood back, revealing her twintails. After a moment, the flame dissipated, and Rock curled the longer left tail around her finger. "If I were to guess... everyone in  _OtherSelf_ looks like they do IRL, right?"

"Yeah," Ron insisted. "We do."

"Do you really think a NervGear could scan something like this?" she inquired.

"No," Nico admitted, "I don't."

"I do," Ram insisted. "When you set up the body scan, they make you run a hand down your hair if it extends beyond the helmet."

Rock seemed surprised. "Really? I didn't know that part. I had, like, tiny ones." She closed her fists around the bases of her tails.

"Do you really think she could have done that flame thing if she was an  _OSO_ player?" Nico argued.

Ram hesitated, and Rock took advantage. A flash of light wrapped her jacket; when it faded, she was standing there in a set of pajamas. "What about equipment?" she asked. "You still have to open your menu to change your equipment, right?"

"How did you even...!?" Nana was incredulous.

" _Otherworld's_ engine uses the same 'read your brain signals' function that lets you control your avatar like your own body," Rock explains, "and uses it to find out  _exactly_ what you want. The whole point of the game was to stop the limitations of not being able to make things look, or act, the way you want them to."

There was still clear wariness on Ram's face; with a sigh, Rock turned to Stella. "Does  _OtherSelf_ let you customize your menu?"

"...A little bit, yeah," Stella confirmed.

Rock swept her hand down to open her menu, then brought up her system settings and swept it from the side to turn it towards Ram. "Open your customizations and tell me if you can make it look like this."

Ram did just that, tapping to  _User Settings_ and then  _Aesthetics_ before scrolling down and tapping  _Menu Settings_. Stella - who had never been one for such customizations - watched as the settings box appeared, shifting colours and changing setups for a few good minutes before Ram sighed.

"I can't," she admitted. "You really are from  _Otherworld._ "

The rest of the Beasts gave her incredulous looks. "A fire in her eye and instant pajamas, and it's the  **menu** that convinces you?" Acta accused.

Rock glanced down at herself, quickly changing back to her black jacket; then she swept her hand up, causing the menu to vanish. "But... why?" Nana demanded. "Why are you here in _OSO_? And as one of the five goddesses, even?"

"Why are any of you here?" Rock argued. "Why are you trapped in a game that kills you if your avatar dies?"

"I was thinking about that," Stella admitted. "I think... whoever designed this wanted _OSO_  to fight  _Otherworld_. It's like... some kind of survival of the fittest. They want to see if the customizability of  _Otherworld_ is any match for the strength in numbers of  _OtherSelf Online_."

"But that's insane," Ron protested. "Why would they do that!?"

Stella let her gaze fall. "I'm not going to pretend to know _why_ they want to see it," she insisted. "Do any of us really think we can understand the motivations of a mass murderer?" She shook her head. "But we're not going to play this game. We need to let people know what's going on with the goddesses."

"Um," Nana proclaimed. "That might not be the best idea."

"Why not?" Rock asked.

"Maybe because you five have killed almost half of the population of  _OSO_ in a year," Nana insisted.

Rock recoiled at that.

Nana raised a hand. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But that's the fact. After the first... hundred or so players who died within a month of launch, everybody has exercised absolute caution. Nobody even risks their HP falling below half if they can help it. But the goddesses can kill a player in  **one hit** , and there are exactly two shops in the game with revival items, and they only work within thirteen minutes. Five thousand of the ten thousand players in  _OtherSelf Online_ are dead... and at least four thousand of those players are dead at the hands of the goddesses."

Only Arata realized how much Mato was hurt by what she had done; she had killed nearly two thousand players... of five thousand total players dead.

Ron sighed. "Let's call it a night," he insisted. "You two can have this room; I don't want to think about how  _OSO_ NPCs are gonna react to an  _Otherworld_ player."

"A-Alright," Rock murmured.

The rest of the Beasts left the room; and once the door was closed, Arata set her hand on Mato's shoulder.

"Don't blame yourself. You had no way of knowing."

* * *

"What level are you?"

Ram's question, as the Beasts and Rock stepped out of the Town of Endings the next day, drew the goddess' attention. "What?"

" _Otherworld_ still had a level system, right?" Ram demanded. "If you've been playing for three years, what level are you?"

"Oh..." Rock glanced up at her HUD again. "151."

"Holy shit," Ram spat.

Stella looked awkward all of a sudden. "None of us have broken eighty," she admitted. "Maybe you shouldn't travel with us quite yet.  _OSO_ throws stronger enemies at you depending on your level, and I don't want to think-"

She was cut off by heavy foosteps; everyone turned to find a  **massive**  wolf approaching them, something none of them had fought so far. Everyone went for their weapons, but Rock only raised her right hand - and the band on her arm, which Stella had thought was merely part of her armour, seemed to suddenly stand out against her skin. Black fragments materialized in the air around her, slamming into the band and then each other; the party realized that a massive  _cannon_ was manifesting on Rock's arm. It completed as the wolf was near enough to swipe at her, and Rock raised the cannon so it was aimed at the enemy's head.

"Gunshot."

A spray of black fragments shot out the end of the barrel, ripping through the wolf with almost zero resistance; the creature went still as its HP bar appeared and rapidly depleted. Its body lightened, shimmered, and then shattered into fragments of light.

After a moment, win screens appeared around before each of them, and Rock lowered her cannon and eyed her screen dismissively before turning to the Beasts. "Tell me that's not a Lv 151 monster," she pleaded.

"Oh my," Stella gasped. She could read Rock's win screen from here, and that EXP gain was decidedly not the accumulated EXP from a 150s monster; in fact, she reckoned they had simply had the poor fortune of not running into a 70s monster until now. "I think I may have overestimated the strength of the enemies _OSO_ would throw at you."

"I think I left my Ethics Code off," Nana murmured.

Ron glanced at his win screen and then Rock's. "Hey," he realized. "That's the  _OSO_ win screen."

"It must be," Rock confirmed, " _Otherworld_ didn't have win screens." She raised a hand to dismiss it.

"Of course," Ron realized. "If it's letting you act like you're still in  _Otherworld_ , then the base engine must follow the same guidelines. You're fully compatible with everything in  _OSO_. Enemies, NPCs - I bet it'll let you into our party if we made the invite."

Stella opened her menu and tapped to the party prompt; after a moment, a dialogue box appeared before Rock, no different than when she had sent join requests to any of the other Beasts. Rock bit her lip, tapping the 'Deny' button. "I'd rather not," she insisted. "If it's not throwing high-level enemies at me, the game's not acknowledging my level. If I join your party, that might change."

"Fair enough," Stella insisted. "So, what do we do about the other four?"

" _OtherSelf_ isn't letting me change the environment," Rock replied. "That means I don't have any fast way to the others' regions. Any idea where they are?"

"The entrances change location over time," Acta explained. "That's the only reason we didn't all end up in your domain with Stella."

"Only way we're gonna find them is to go looking for them," Nico added.

Rock rolled her eyes, turning to Stella. "It's like  _Shadow Hunter_ all over again."

Stella gave her a look. "You and I remember  _Shadow Hunter_ very differently."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor headcanon: enabling your Ethics Code not only prevents you from [ahem] enabling any relief for your arousal, but also prevents the -physical- properties of that arousal from manifesting on your avatar.


	29. Black Gold Saw

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope I didn't get any completionists interested in Tales of Symphonia with my references a couple chapters ago. I've seen it analyzed that getting everything in that game requires five consecutive playthroughs with specific choices on the post-game carryovers, and that assumes you don't play it once for the story alone. Even if you don't want the run-by-run bonuses, half of the optional challenges require level grinding up the hello if you don't go for the EXP multipliers after a clear.

_1 Year 30 Days Since Launch_

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: None

Nana  
Armour: Ocean's Splash  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Sword of the Spirit  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Romantic Defender  
Weapon: Water Ring  
Weapon: Bubble Edge  
Garb: False Armour (Shadow Coat)

Acta  
Armour: Shade's Fur  
Weapon: Moonlit Axe  
Weapon: Sister's Promise  
Garb: Blackjack

Nico  
Armour: Sea of Fire  
Weapon: Darkness Claws  
Garb: Freelance

Ram  
Armour: Knight of Darkness  
Weapon: Sunlit Blade  
Weapon: Spinning Blades  
Garb: White Dress

"This is not working, is it?"

Rock's inquiry as she and the Beasts stepped into the Eternal Stadium, half an hour to midnight, earned her a sigh from Stella. They were a month into their search for the other goddesses, and a thorough search through the Forest Labyrinth, Storm Tundra, and City of Farewell had turned up nothing so far. "No," Stella admitted. "No it's not."

Nana shook her head. "It's taking way too long. With the inconsistency of the entrance locations, we're more likely to stumble upon one of the domains like before than find them when we seek them out."

Ram slashed at the side of the potion shop on their way to the inn field, prompting an Immortal Object notice as her sword recoiled. "The idiot who came up with the idea of a mandatory objective with a chance-based result deserves to get staked."

Ron turned to her. "That seems a bit harsh."

"It's not harsh," Acta reprimanded.

"It's not harsh," Nico agreed.

"It's not even  _remotely_ harsh," Stella added.

A stunned look decorated Ron's face. "You seriously want someone to die like a vampire for having an idea?" he demanded. "That's gotta be a  _little_ harsh."

"It's not harsh," Ram protested.

"No, it's not harsh," Nana countered before Ron could speak again.

"I'd say it's too easy on him," Rock agreed.

Ron was interrupted again, this time by an avian chirp from above. Everyone's gaze went up to find a flock of birds passing by overhead. "Huh," Acta murmured. "Are those... enemies?"

"No, that's just for ambiance," Nana admitted. "Most of the time the game's not quiet enough to let you notice it, but they'll fly around here and over the Plain."

Rock gasped, surprised, and everyone turned to her as she pounded a fist into her palm with a smile. "Wait, that's it! I know how to find the others!"

Stella chuckled. "Birds?"

"Dead came up with something on the first day of the beta test," Rock explained. "We were asked to try and push the system as hard as it'd go, and..." She held out her hand, and a flash of light rippled above it; when it faded out, a tiny white bird was perched on her index finger, and when it briefly spread its wings, the Beasts saw its feathers were multi-hued.

"A bird with rainbow wings?" Nico asked.

Ram chuckled. "Is that that colourful colours bird you were talking about?" she asked, turning to Stella.

Rock's face fell; the bird vanished from her finger, and she buried her face in her hands, giving the party concern. "Rock?"

"They used our weapon designs for  _OtherSelf_ 's equipment," Rock murmured. "You guys saw my  _Little Bird of Many Many Colours_ set."

"Saw it?" Nana chuckled. "Stella and Ron were using them for two months."

A groan passed through Rock's fingers. "Just kill me now..."

"We can't," Acta reminded her. "You're still twice our level."

Stella cleared her throat. " _Anyways_ ," she insisted, "what's the little one do?"

"It's a messenger," Rock explained, pulling her face out of her hands. "I can type out a message, and the Colourful Bird will go fly to the recipient. During the beta test, we found out that it'll fly a route to whoever we pick to receive it, even if we don't know where they are. At least if nothing kills it on the way."

"Fly a route," Ram realized. "You mean..."

"Yeah," Rock confirmed. "If I choose one of the others, it'll fly to them - and we can follow it."

The party exchanged grins. "It's getting kinda late," Stella admitted, "but wake us up in the morning."

Rock blinked. "How do you knock on a tent door?"

"Just rap on the entrance flaps," Stella admitted. "I mean, I'm not sure that makes as much noise, but I'll leave mine unlocked."

The Beasts started towards the inn field, leaving Rock murmuring, "How do you  _lock_ a tent door?"

* * *

 

The next day revealed that a 'knock' on a tent door in fact made  _more_ noise, at least to someone on the inside, than a knock on a hardwood door (although Acta and Ram were still able to sleep through that, they too had left their doors open for Rock to wake them up manually). One stop at the crystalists' later, and the Beasts were ready; Rock quickly manifested a Colourful Bird on her finger and tapped out a message.

"Who should we try to find first?" she asked as a player list came up; Stella was mildly surprised to find there were only four names on there.

"Dead Master has an army at her command," Ron recalled. "I don't want to think about the odds of your bird flying through that alive. And when we saw Chariot, she ran over the first people to reach the point where she could get at them."

"From what I've heard about Strength, we shouldn't try our luck." Ram murmured. "Anything that fluid is too risky at our level."

Rock sighed. "That leaves Gold, then."

She tapped one of the names on the list; the Colourful Bird quickly lifted off her finger, flying out of the Stadium, and the seven of them began to follow it as it flew.

After a few blocks through the City of Farewell (encounters being distressingly sparse), Rock spoke up. "Um, where... where did you all get your weapons?" she asked.

Nana gave a hum of confusion. "Well, that came out of nowhere," she observed. "Everyone got a Black Blade at the start of the game - it gets stronger depending on the level of whoever equips it, and changes your stats instead of having its own. Stella's stuff uses the same function, but it's all monster drops; the sword was a fight in the desert, and the gun and armour were in here." Glancing at the rest of them; "Everything else we've got came from a pack of human-like enemies in the Plain, like, a week before she found you."

Rock turned to her. "Human-like enemies?"

"Well, three of them were like humans," Ron admitted. "But they weren't - synthesized voices, stiff movements, it's obvious they were AI creatures."

Stella saw the expression on Rock's face, and quickly got closer so she could whisper; "You fought something like that in your domain?"

"I did," Rock admitted. "The first time I saw something using the equipment we worked on, it was like that. I've been taking out just about everything else before I could see it, but..."

"But you have no way of knowing what was an AI and what was a player," Stella realized.

"Left!" Acta warned them. "It turned left!"

As a group, the seven of them followed the Colourful Bird into a left turn - which quickly found them running straight into the searchlight of something flying above them on three propellers. With a flash of light, Rock's cannon manifested on her arm (she'd forgone the extended manifestation since their first fight in the Plain of Suffering), and she raised it to fire a few solitary shots that took out its lift and then slammed into its eye to finish it off.

Rock let the cannon vanish as they continued, but after a moment Nico asked. "Where's the win screen?"

"Huh?"

The entourage came to a halt, letting the little bird fly ahead of them as they looked around. "Oh, shit," Ram muttered, "this is..."

Stella had seen this section of the city before - and had very nearly died in it. A winding region of tightly-packed buildings that put the Forest Labyrinth to shame; one couldn't slip through these to get through. An isolated region of Hell Mountain, designed to throw the strongest enemies at a player that their level would allow, rested on the other side... but starting at Level 70, Stella had found that the maze to get there was fixed-populated by mechanical creatures that were absolute murder. Stalking the pavement, watching the skies, or defending from mounted positions atop buildings, they would blast victims with beams of light that could hit an enemy clear across the City of Farewell - Colour of Pain had let Stella barely take a single hit, and a blow to the eye from her Beast Blade had taken out a _fiftieth_ of an HP bar... of which these things had two.

Any one of them would have been a solo encounter in any other region. Stella had been thankful for whatever miracle had let her break Lv 70 on her way back to the Stadium.

"Run," Stella warned. "Keep running. Rock, keep your cannon ready!"

The weapon reappeared on Rock's arm as they redoubled their pace to catch up with the Colourful Bird. The next turn found a turret on the nearest rooftop; an attempted eyeshot hit the support - and taking out two-thirds of one bar - as its eye extended, a red targeting beam linking her to the machine. Rock's second shot hit it in the eye and finished it off; another skywatcher's searchlight washed over the bird, only for Rock to fire at its eye as well and take it out in one hit. A stalker around the next corner came threateningly close to catching the little bird under one claw; Rock shot it in the leg, causing it to reel back, and as soon as its eye was in view she shot it to destroy it.

"You'd probably hit another level if you took them out yourself!" she observed.

"Not worth the risk!" Ram insisted.

They were nearing the access to Hell Mountain - but a pair of turrets sat atop two even-levelled buildings at either side, and at the sight of the approaching party their heads rose up to take aim. Rock's cannon seemed to change on her arm before she raised it; two large black projectiles shot out, twisted through the air, then slammed into the turrets' eyes and left them to shatter. The bird flew between the buildings, and as it approached the area beyond, a swirl of red flames appeared, with a horned helmet in white appearing upon it.

The cannon disappeared from Rock's arm, and her feet left the ground as she charged forward, following the little bird into the domain.

Stella, at the front of the Beasts, decided it was best not to assume the goddess would be convinced when they got there; she drew her Beast Blade, causing the blades on the greaves of her Render's Wear to manifest and the crown to light up around her head, as they neared the vortex as well.

"Give us ten seconds!"

* * *

When the swirl of red faded from Rock's vision, she found herself standing in an ominous region of grey, with her Colourful Bird flapping about before her. It seemed to be a ruined temple of some sort - pillars of stone extended out of what seemed to be a lake, with spits of rock scattered about. A stone wall nearby had a large hole in it, though the skies beyond were almost indistinguishable from the water... until a massive  _eye_ appeared in the air. Stella emerged from the portal behind her - and the eye in the air  _rippled_ as someone emerged from it.

Smooth crimson horns rose from beneath a head of black hair that gradually faded to red as it flowed down her back. A black jacket was only done up enough to cover her breasts; long sleeves obscured the palms of crimson-armoured hands that ended in threatening claws. A pair of short shorts, held in place with a belt bearing a single jewel, left a strip of bare skin before a pair of crimson greaves, ending in sharpened sabatons - and in her hand was a massive black sword, with a sharpened crimson edge, its basket hilt and back edge serrated like a saw.

Black Gold Saw.

She was moving too fast; nobody had a chance to defend before she turned mid-flight, that massive weapon seized in both hands to be brought down. Stella leapt away, and Rock took a single step to the side as the blow slammed down, sending a crack along the stone they stood upon.

"Saya, stop!"

The goddess reacted to that name; she turned, shocked, and that provided the opening they needed. The Colourful Bird flew towards her, and she stumbled back as a dialogue box appeared before her.

_Mato & Kohacchi on our way_

"What!?" Saya raised her gaze. "...Arata? Mato?"

"Long time," Mato murmured.

The entrance appeared again as the rest of the Beasts tumbled through; Gold turned with her weapon raised, earning screams from the party, but Rock quickly thrust her right hand forward, and her cannon appeared - with a massive, crushing spike replacing the barrel - to lock against the hilt. "Don't!" she insisted.

"Good lady," Acta squealed. "How did you survive if she's camping the entrance?"

She turned to Stella, who shook her head. "She wasn't."

Gold hesitated for a moment; then she pulled her blade away, leaving Rock to dismiss her cannon with a sigh as she slumped over. "I don't want to think about how close that was."

"Ma- Rock, what's going on?" Gold demanded. "Who are they?"

Mato sighed; this wasn't going to be any easier on Saya than it had been on her.

* * *

" **WHAT!?** "

Stella wasn't all too surprised when Gold reacted to the news of what she had been fighting. "You mean... All those people I've been fighting were..."

"Players of  _OSO_ ," Nana confirmed. "And when you killed them, they died in the real world."

"Not all of them," Rock interjected. When the group turned to her; "From what you've told me, some of the things we've been fighting  **have** been AI enemies. I won't deny that we've killed a good number of players... but we have no way of knowing how many we're really responsible for."

Stella cast her gaze over the lake. "Graves," she murmured. "Players leave grave markers when they die; they count the thirteen minutes we have to be revived. But... there aren't any here. And there weren't any in your domain, either," she added, turning to Rock.

Gold closed her eyes for a moment. A sudden light filled the grey lake; Nana gasped when she saw that the floor of the lake was littered with black stones. "I thought they were just a random generation," she murmured. "I sent them down there so there wouldn't be anything in my way. How many...?"

Rock narrowed her gaze; and after a moment, a dialogue box appeared before her.

"...Nine hundred and twenty-six," she replied.

"Nine hundred and..." The light in the lake faded, and Saya buried her face in her arms. "I killed them. I'm a murderer."

"No, you're not," Ram insisted. "You didn't know they were people. You had no intention of bringing anyone harm, let alone death. That's not murder."

Ron got to her feet, prompting the others to do the same. "We'll give you a bit," he insisted. "We'll be waiting outside."

The Beasts made their way out of the domain; but Mato lingered, so that Saya needed not face her sorrow alone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the blatant Zelda reference in the city.


	30. Seeking the Pantheon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the equipment selections haven't really changed since the Beasts formed, but it would feel cheap to suddenly stop including the briefing so I'm gonna keep it up anyways.

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: None

Nana  
Armour: Ocean's Splash  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Sword of the Spirit  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Romantic Defender  
Weapon: Water Ring  
Weapon: Bubble Edge  
Garb: False Armour (Shadow Coat)

Acta  
Armour: Shade's Fur  
Weapon: Moonlit Axe  
Weapon: Sister's Promise  
Garb: Blackjack

Nico  
Armour: Sea of Fire  
Weapon: Darkness Claws  
Garb: Freelance

Ram  
Armour: Knight of Darkness  
Weapon: Sunlit Blade  
Weapon: Spinning Blades  
Garb: White Dress

"That was very stupid of you. You're lucky that worked out."

The Beasts, Rock, and Gold had made it back to the Eternal Stadium; Gold seemed rather shocked on hearing Rock's plan for finding the other 'goddesses'. At her comment, Nana objected, "How exactly was that stupid?"

"The entrances change location after a while, right?" Gold mused. "If it had changed while you were following the Colourful Bird, it would've changed direction. Given what you said about those machines near Hell Mountain, worst case scenario: it changed direction in the middle of the street, it would be way too easy to lose track of it if one of them got a shot out, and Rock's not exactly a crowd controller."

"You got a better idea?" Rock objected, clearly taking umbrage at Gold's comment.

"...Well, no," Gold admitted, "but-"

"But nothing," Ron insisted. "Yes, we're lucky you were that close, but Colourful Birds are still the easiest way for us to find the others."

Gold sighed. "I still think we should come up with something a little more reliable," she insisted.

Ram hummed. "What if... I know this is kind of dumb. But, what if Rock sends a bird to each of the others, and we split up and follow all of them at the same time?"

"You're insane," Stella reprimanded.

"Hear me out," Ram protested. "We follow the birds until someone finds another domain. If it gets too late, we'll meet up... well, whoever's closest to a town, we'll go there, and try again in the morning. If we  _do_ find another domain, we stop there, and message the others to say we've found it. Then we all go in together."

Acta hummed. "What if it changes places before we can get inside?"

Nana shook her head. "At this point, we need to take the safe approach."

Nico aimed a finger at Rock. "Can you send us birds?"

Rock shook her head. "You're not on my player list," she replied. "It's only letting me get at other players from  _Otherworld_."

"The birds would take too long anyways," Stella insisted. "We'll have to make sure you're each with one of us."

"I'll go with Rock!" Acta cheered. "I wanna see more of that cannon!"

"If Acta's going, I'm going too," Nico proclaimed.

"That's..." Gold paused. "Actually, I guess that could work."

"I'll come with you, then," Ram mused. "I'd like to see what that sword can do."

Nana shot Stella a look before adding, "I'll join you for that."

"It's  **just** a big sword," Rock insisted. "Everything else is  _Otherworld_ 's ability generation."

Ron shrugged. "Guess me and Stella will take the last one, then."

Gold glanced at her HUD; the trip to Hell Mountain and her domain, the resulting conversation, and the trip back had taken from morning 'til noon. "When should we call it a night?"

"Let's stop the chase after 11, meet up before midnight," Stella offered.

Rock manifested a Colourful Bird on her finger, tapping out a message. "Gold, you should go after Mary." She tapped a name, causing it to fly off; as the group departed, another appeared on her finger again. "Stella, Ron, this one will go after Yew. I'm gonna try and find Dead."

"You got it," Stella assured her.

The second bird began to fly, and as the two of them followed, a third generated on Rock's hand.

* * *

"Is there a reason you chose to come with us?"

The bird seeking Chariot was approaching the Storm Tundra, and Ram's sudden inquiry caught Nana off-guard. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I would think a beta tester has enough knowledge of  _OSO_ 's physics engine to know how things will react to that sword," Ram observed, opening her menu to change her garb. "And if the number of times I hit you in the Forest Labyrinth have anything to say about it, you improvise when it comes to working with others' fighting styles."

"Yeah, because that's an option with a 150s goddess," Nana mused sarcastically, tapping through her own menu.

Her Other Cloak and Ram's dress were quickly switched out for cold-resistant outfits as they started into the snow; Gold gave a hiss of chill, and her jacket seemed to close itself up without her touching it. "I don't blame you for being careful when it's beginning to look just like an ice world," she observed.

Nana chuckled. "You're not fond of the cold either?"

"I'm not fond of slippery ice," Gold insisted. "Hope  _OtherSelf_ lets me stop myself from sliding."

"Don't change the subject," Ram reprimanded. "Why did you come along?"

Gold glanced back at her. "What, it's not obvious?"

Ram was surprised at that. "What's not obvious?"

"Acta and Nico went with Rock," Gold observed. "You decide to come with me, which leaves Stella, Nana, and Ron.  _Nobody_ wants to be the unwelcome third player."

"Third play..." Ram glanced back towards the City of Farewell before turning back to Nana. "Stella and Ron?"

"You didn't notice?" Nana mused, a smile on her face. "He didn't react when he pulled her Render's Wear in the middle of the demigod fight, and 'beast' was  _decidedly_ not the word he was about to use when he was praising her."

"It's veering," Gold warned; the Colourful Bird's bright rainbow feathers were hard to see in the cold, but  _Otherworld_ must have been giving her a way to keep track of it. The three of them followed it to a small cavern... yet no sooner had they arrived than the bird was flying out, catching the trio off-guard.

Ram blinked. "Huh?"

Gold sighed. "Dammit. It just changed locations."

"Well, let's keep following it," Nana insisted.

None of them had finished a step before a sudden tremor shook the tundra; Gold faceplanted in the snow, and Nana and Ram went for their weapons as they looked for the source. "What the-? An earthquake?"

Nana swore. "Someone took out a solo hatchling!" she warned. "There's a cryo dragon on the plain!"

"There!" Gold was aiming a finger back towards the City. "Two huge things coming out of the snow! There's like twenty players around them!"

"Two!?" Nana tried to follow her gaze, but  _Otherworld_ was clearly letting her see further than they could. "Twenty players... that's three parties! They must have lured two solo hatchlings to the same place to try and make it a group!"

Ram saw something flying in the other direction. "The bird's not going that way. Chariot's in the other direction."

Gold reached for her weapon. "What level are those things  **supposed** to be fought at?" she demanded.

"90, I think," Nana replied. "One at a time."

"Then Mary can wait!"

The weapon was drawn with a roar of metal on metal, and Gold dashed forward, ripping across the tundra so fast that it sent up waves of snow at either side. Nana and Ram followed the trail through the snows as Gold started to near the battle; a surge of cold breath from one dragon washed over the raid group, and Gold saw the players' black HP bars dropping quickly. They came to a stop shortly after they lightened, most of them well above the halfway mark, but another attack from the other dragon bombarded them before anyone could try to heal, and their HP bars quickly paled, many of the players threateningly near death.

Gold's empty left hand lowered, and a dark silver watering can appeared in her grip; then the first dragon lunged forward, and she hurled her blade at the point where its maw would near a player. The connection caused the dragon to rear back, and six black HP bars appeared around its head - that one blow eating away a third of one. Gold swore as she neared the group, seizing the blade before it could hit the ground and hurling it at the other dragon; the weapon impaled itself in the monster's eye as she raised her can before the damaged players, causing a bright shimmer to wash over the players.

The raid group all wore amazed expressions as they turned to her.

"Does anybody here  _want_ to fight these things?" Gold demanded.

At once, everyone chorused, "No!"

"Then run," Gold commanded. "I'll cover you."

She raised her hand towards her sword, which quickly wrenched itself out of the dragon's eye - causing it to twist unpleasantly as it did - and soared back towards her. The crowd quickly took off in the direction Gold had come from as her blade returned, and she closed her fingers on it and brought it into a leaping uppercut as the other dragon made to swipe its tail at her. The strike skimmed her sabatons, dealing a small hit of damage to _the dragon_ , and Gold's flying blow slammed into its jaw and had the dragon reeling, taking off another third of its first HP bar.

Nana was most concerned to find the majority of the players had  _stopped running_ a short distance away from the fight - well out of range of the dragons' claws and most likely outside the radius of a tail swipe, but still far too close to be considered safe. "What are you **doing!?** " she demanded. "Keep running!"

"What level is that woman at?!" one player demanded. "How can she-?"

"Does it  **matter**!?" Ram demanded. "Those things can still hit you from here! Keep moving! There's a cave not too far this way!"

"...Saw."

That murmured comment caught the Beasts' attention; a young-looking boy with a long rifle on his back and a revolver at his hip. Nana had a horrible feeling that this was going where she really  _didn't_ want it to go when she asked, "What did you just say?"

"Black Gold Saw," he protested. "That woman is the red goddess! What the hell is she doing here!?"

"Saving your ass!" Ram reprimanded. "Are you seriously going to complain about that!? Get moving! All of you!"

"No way!" the boy snapped, drawing his rifle. "If there's a goddess in the middle of the Storm Tundra, the last thing I'm gonna do is let her walk away!"

"Don't!"

Nana made to stop him, but he quickly dropped to the snow, taking aim. To her horror, the rest of the crowd moved to block her way, leaving both her and Ram unable to act before the boy fired. The bullet shot forward and slammed into Gold's leg as she landed from an airborne clash with the dragons, causing her to stumble as she hit the ground; this left her in good position for one of the dragons to slam its claws into her, taking a twentieth off her HP bar - more than she was expecting - and knocking her between the legs of the other.

"Where the hell did-?" Gold turned towards the crowd, finding them far too near to be safe; willing  _Otherworld_ to give her a closer view revealed one of them had a scoped rifle  **aimed at her**. Any hopes that he had been trying to score the kill on one of these dragons were quelled when he adjusted his aim and fired at her; she quickly charged out from under the dragon and leapt at the one that had sent her there, landing upon its claws when it tried to strike her again. That landing took out another chunk of HP, and when the sniper tried to fire at her again, she leapt atop the opposite dragon's head, leaving its icy breath to wash over the other dragon.

This was where the saw edge of her weapon came in handy; she quickly turned the weapon in hand and ran the blades down the dragon's head. After a certain level, every outward cut of her blade dealt the same damage as the sword edge - and so long as it had the 'across' motion of a saw-stroke rather than a sword swing, the reverberating motion would let each cut strike _individually_. Gold wasn't going to pretend that she had designed the blade so that she knew exactly how many cuts the blade possessed ( _Otherworld_ was specific when they asked it to be and filled in the blanks when they didn't), but that single blow was enough to eat away at the HP bars of the dragon she stood atop, and its body went still and lightened.

She quickly dashed to the edge of its head and leapt to the other dragon, which made to bite at her; her sabatons moved to kick off the air, and she arced over its head as the defeated one shattered. Gold grabbed one of the attacker's horns, arcing around it to steady herself before bracing her weapon's saw-edge against the base and pulling to deal a stroke. This one, too, lightened, and she turned the blade back before dashing to the edge of its head and leaping clear, letting it shatter in the air behind her as she began to fall with a gradual flip, intending to slow her fall as she neared the ground.

Another bullet collided with her greaves, startling her mid-turn, and that distracted her enough that she ended up face-planting unpleasantly in the snow. At Lv 153, a spread-eagle impact didn't hurt her as much as a diving fall would have, but Gold was more concerned about the blatant attempt to shoot her. She had just  _saved_ these people, why was this sniper trying to take her out?

Nana realized that the crowd would be all too eager to attack Gold with the dragons gone; she quickly opened her menu, and before the crowd could stop her, she manifested a pair of effect crystal in her grip and shouted, "Stun!"

One crystal shattered, and sparks like static electricity rippled across the group - not dealing any damage, but leaving their movements jerky and hindered. Unfortunately, no shielding meant Ram was affected as well; Nana quickly uttered "Recover!" to dismiss the effect on her, then started towards Gold. Ram was concerned for her actions, asking, "You're gonna leave them here?"

"It wears off in fifteen seconds," Nana insisted, "just keep running!"

Gold only waited long enough for the two Beasts to close the distance before doubling back towards the city.

* * *

"No way..."

"Ah, hell..."

When the Colourful Bird had started doubling back in the middle of the City of Farewell, Stella and Ron had  _hoped_ that meant Strength's domain was in a place nearer the Eternal Stadium. Unfortunately, they had not been careful what they wished for - the bird had taken them back  **into** the Stadium... and was currently flapping at the entrance to the Temporal Spire.

Stella shook her head. "We are not going in there."

"No, we're not," Ron confirmed. "...But we probably shouldn't leave it flying where people can-"

He was quieted when Stella drew her Seven-Shots and pulled the trigger once; one or two bullets hit the Colourful Bird, causing its wings to abruptly darken as it tumbled to the ground and shattered.

"If Rock asks, it flew inside and we chose not to follow it," Stella insisted, holstering her pistol again.

"I take it she's not going to appreciate you killing her little bird," Ron observed.

"Not even a little bit."

* * *

Straight-line focused shots, close-range spread shot, homing shots, long-range projectiles, shots that exploded a moment after connecting, a crushing blade for a barrel, and _gatling fire_. If Acta had been worried that she was going to be let down on seeing what Rock's cannon could do, those worries had been well and truly crushed by the time they reached the Sun's Sandsea on the Colourful Bird's tail.

And good thing, too - it had already changed direction once, so when they saw a swirl of green flames appear near an oasis, through which the bird passed, they knew it would be there for a while.

Nico wiped his brow with the back of his claws before opening his menu. "So hot," he muttered, tapping to the friends-list messaging. "Man, I'm beat."

"You have no endurance," Acta reprimanded.

"You have too much," Rock argued.

_We found Dead Master! Straight north of the Rise in the Sands. Wait for you here?_

Mass-messaging wasn't a thing in  _OSO_ , but Nico was content to just re-type the message to send it to Nana after he'd already sent it to Stella; then they sat down at the waterside and waited for a reply.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me tell you, I swear every game I have ever played with random encounters will avoid giving me ANY for as long as I try to level grind, and then bombard me with too many, with all the toughest and most rewarding ones, as soon as I decide I have somewhere I want to go.


	31. Dead Master

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That pleasant moment when you realize that a character you thought had no surname turns out to have a surname after all, and you learned that BEFORE you came up with your own surname for them and implemented it. Now if only that had happened to me before Reaping...

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: None

Nana  
Armour: Ocean's Splash  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Sword of the Spirit  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Romantic Defender  
Weapon: Water Ring  
Weapon: Bubble Edge  
Garb: False Armour (Shadow Coat)

Acta  
Armour: Shade's Fur  
Weapon: Moonlit Axe  
Weapon: Sister's Promise  
Garb: Blackjack

Nico  
Armour: Sea of Fire  
Weapon: Darkness Claws  
Garb: Freelance

Ram  
Armour: Knight of Darkness  
Weapon: Sunlit Blade  
Weapon: Spinning Blades  
Garb: White Dress

"Is it still here!?"

Rock was surprised to find that Stella, Ron, Gold, Nana, and Ram had all arrived at once; they must have both been near one of the communities. "Yeah, it's still here," she called in response to Nana's question.

"Your bird went in?" Gold inquired.

There was an oddly somber tone in her voice; Stella turned, worried. "What happened?"

"Raid group in the Storm Tundra," Ram replied. "Made a stupid mistake with the cryo hatchlings. Gold saved their asses, and..."

"They didn't like that," Ron observed.

Rock sighed. "Of course they didn't."

Stella glanced at the green vortex, eyeing the cracked skull upon it and remembering the last time they had gone through. Then, with a deep breath, she drew her Beast Blade; the blue crown appeared around her head, and the blades on her greaves appeared as she turned it to a defensive backhand grip. "Better safe than sorry," she proposed.

"Agreed," Ron mused.

Everyone drew their weapons; then Rock and Gold led the Beasts into the domain of the green goddess.

* * *

They foggy graveyard was just the same as it had been about seven months ago, when they had last visited; Stella tried her best not to think about how many black grave markers lay about the dark region, for fear of finding it to be more than she had seen last time. At the far end of the domain, black chains surrounded by a green glow were swirling around - not intersecting like a spiderweb, as they had last time, but swirling around like a tornado.

Gold cursed under her breath. "That's her defense?"

"No," Nana murmured. "This isn't... Where's those skulls? Where's the undead monsters they said she had? If you think we're enemies, you wouldn't go full defensive like that!"

Ron saw the spinning chains start to deform. "What the-!?"

A sound like a bomb - a blast that could take out a building. The hurricane of black chains  _shattered_ , fragments flying across the graveyard, and everyone prepared to defend themselves. The broken links began to tumble towards the earth, like steel rainfall... and when each link hit the ground, a dark glow rose from where it landed, and something began to emerge from that glow. Humanoid figures began to rise through the fog - rotted corpses, garbed in worn armour, armed with rusted weapons, and enough of them to wage a  **war**. As the smoke began to clear, the raised throne was visible - and standing before it, a brown-haired figure in a dark dress, with bony green horns rising from beneath her hair, jagged green wings emerging from her lower back, thin green fingers ending in talons, and a massive scythe gripped in her hand.

Dead Master.

"No way..." Ram raised her weapons. "That's too-"

"Her eyes," Rock gasped. "Her eyes are closed. She can't see us!"

"Then we have to get close!" Nico proclaimed.

The nearest corpses started to charge forward - faster than anything that rotted should be able to, with rusted halberds raised to strike.

"Easy to say that!" Acta observed.

One thrust was met on her rune-crested shield; another was evaded and seized in Nico's clawed grip. A third lance locked on the spinning blades of Ram's 'shield', while a fourth met the crossing of Nana's blades. A fifth was narrowly evaded by Ron, and Stella sent the attacker flying with her Beast Blade before drawing her Seven-Shots; the discs that formed the feet of her Render's Wear shifted to buzzsaws, but the corpse had already gone still mid-flight. Nana threw the offending spear aside before impaling its owner with the guard-ringed blade in her left hand; the enemy shattered before she could swing her Black Blade at it as well. Ram moved the spear aside and slashed at the enemy with her arced sword, eliminating it as she pulled her shield free. Nico gripped the spear he was defending against with one hand and jabbed the claws of his other into the corpse's chest, causing it to go still; Acta dealt a roundhouse slash that slammed into her attacker's leg, wiping it out with that one blow.

"Individually, they suck," Ron observed. "But there's so many of them!"

Rock grit her teeth. "Stand back!"

Her cannon appeared on her arm, in gatling mode; the tripod was slammed to the ground, she seized the handle in her left hand, and the blue flame ignited in her eye as the barrels began to spin. The Beasts leapt aside as bullets began to fly forward, spent shells cascading at Rock's side as corpses began to shatter down the center of the army; she slowly swept the cannon to the left and then the right, ripping through the army in short order; when she stopped firing, the spent shells shattered around her.

"Go!"

Stella dashed forward, her sword dragging across the ground at her side as the others followed suit. Dead raised her empty left hand, aiming a finger forward - and from behind her throne emerged the massive skulls, flying forward. Stella swore, raising her Seven-Shots to fire at them; when one started to near her, she impaled her Beast Blade in the ground and arced around it, pulling the firearm out of reach as its teeth slammed shut on the point where it had just been.

"Not again, you don't!"

She lashed her legs across its face, the buzzsaws searing a few blows before the blades landed - but to her horror, no HP bar appeared, and the skull didn't seem to feel it. It loomed at her again, and she pulled her sword out and slashed at it to turn it away before dashing past it, finding Nana had been similarly clashing with the other skull as her friends continued to advance. The party halted when chain links began to rain down again, this time dropping in a row before Dead's throne and then another row ahead; Rock started firing at the skulls to keep them off the Beasts as they retreated, just barely getting out of reach before the corpse army had risen again.

"How many of these things does she have!?" Nana spat.

"The corpses are there to draw aggro," Gold realized. "The enemy focuses on taking them out, but they go down in one hit!  _Otherworld_  would let her bring them back as much as she wants, the army's just as much as it'll let her make at once!"

The corpses began to charge again, and Rock resumed her fire; when they were in the clear, the gun quieted down, and Ron asked, "What about those skulls!?"

"I think... that's an attack ability!" Gold replied. "That's why she's not looking at us - she's commanding the skulls! They're physical structure, so they'll adhere to the physics engine, but they're just attacks, so they can't be destroyed!"

Ram growled as the steel links rained down again. "And I thought Chariot's crawler was unfair..."

Rock's gaze shot around the graveyard; the green fog obscured the horizon, but she could see a few stone arches along the edges, as though - like Gold's - this place was meant to invoke a ruined temple. The skulls had retreated to Dead's sides, hovering ominously like a pair of great sentries, but none of the corpses now rising were anywhere but on the ground.

"Stella!"

"Rock?"

"Cover me!"

" **What!?** " Stella turned around in time to see Rock pull her arm out of her cannon; then she charged forward, drawing her Black Blade with a slash that rippled out and cut half of the army down. Panicking, Stella tumbled towards the cannon, holstering her pistol as she situated herself behind it and reaffixing her sword to her back to grasp the handle. After a moment's confusion she slipped her arm into the opening on the back of the main body, feeling around inside; her fingers curled around something that felt like a pole, and her index finger grasped a slight protrusion that shifted. The barrels began to spin, bullets flying again as Rock leapt skyward - that let the shots slam into the remaining army, and chain links began to rain down again.

Gold raised her greatsword and swung it once, manifesting a wall of water between her and the rising corpses. "I'll deal with the army!" she insisted. "You focus on them!"

The skulls had begun to fly towards Rock as she landed on one of the arches; Stella found the cannon surprisingly maneuverable as she aimed it towards them. Shots collided with the leading skull in rapid succession, and the physics engine proclaimed that five thousand rounds a minute not penetrating the center of a flying solid changed its flight course, causing it to soar well in _front_ of Rock rather than  _through_ her. Stella turned the cannon on the other, this time hitting it in the nasal cavity and causing it to veer into a round flight.

Rock had neared the edge of the arch; now she leapt, clear across the battlefield, leaving the skulls to chase after her as she approached an arch on the opposite side. When Stella made to fire at them again, they started to bob and weave around her shots, prompting an exasperated Stella to start jiggling the cannon up and down. That had the desired effect; instead of a predictable row, the shots began to fly in a nearly horizontal wave, which meant that when the skulls widened their flights to avoid it, they ended up flying above and below Rock of their own accord before she leapt towards Dead's throne.

The scythe in her right hand swung upward, and Rock had no chance to react before the blow connected with her stomach and sent her flying.

Nana saw the blue HP bar appear, falling a  _tenth_ as she tumbled back toward the army. "Rock!"

The skulls were flying towards her again; Stella made to fire at them again, only to find the cannon wouldn't fire. "How the hell does an  _Otherworld_ weapon jam!?"

Unbeknowst to any of them, Rock had **asked**   _Otherworld_ to stop the weapon from firing - when she was this close to Dead, she needed a foothold. One skull opened its jaw to bite at her, but she only trapped it open in a split, leaving it to keep flying towards the throne. It realized its error and came to a halt, and when its mouth closed she used that to augment her leap; the other made to bite at her, but she drew her Black Blade and thrust it so the tip was trapped between its teeth before spinning around the handle to change her flight and wrenching the weapon out when she was moving in the right direction.

Dead made to swing at her again; this time, Rock met the scythe's blade on her sword. The blow killed off her momentum, throwing her into a flip; she touched down in front of the throne, and the flame in her eye vanished as she charged forward.

The next swing was interrupted when Mato's arms wrapped around her.

"Yomi, it's me!"

Her eyes flew open, and the skulls went still moments from the throne. "M-Mato...?"

Gold, focused on maintaining the defensive wall, saw the advancing army come to a halt; a sigh broke through her lips as the suspension fell, and the water gave way as the corpses collapsed. Stella quickly released the interior of the cannon and pulled her arm out, glancing at her gauntlet-clad hand unpleasantly. "I have no idea how she handles that," she muttered.

Before the throne, Rock pulled away as Dead spoke. "I'm sorry... I thought one of the enemies had used your equipment. Who are those others? How are you _here?_ "

Rock's gaze fell. "It's a long story... and you're not gonna like it."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have known that giving Kohacchi the name of B★RS from the game was going to cause problems when she started interacting with Mato after I gave her the name of B★RS from the manga.
> 
> The best defense is an unrelenting offense. So naturally, the best defensive function is one which exploits the properties of an offensive function.


	32. Chariot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> However creepy you think Chariot's "kaere" chant is in the anime, it would be a hundred times creepier if that was a level in a video game and it subbed in for background music.

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: None

Nana  
Armour: Ocean's Splash  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Sword of the Spirit  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Romantic Defender  
Weapon: Water Ring  
Weapon: Bubble Edge  
Garb: False Armour (Shadow Coat)

Acta  
Armour: Shade's Fur  
Weapon: Moonlit Axe  
Weapon: Sister's Promise  
Garb: Blackjack

Nico  
Armour: Sea of Fire  
Weapon: Darkness Claws  
Garb: Freelance

Ram  
Armour: Knight of Darkness  
Weapon: Sunlit Blade  
Weapon: Spinning Blades  
Garb: White Dress

"Oh, my..."

Dead's reaction was reflected on Rock and Gold's faces when they finally reached the domain of the yellow goddess - the entrance being hidden in the Survivalist Jungle when they and the Beasts had found it. Ram was reasonably concerned to find that the grave markers of her old party were still sitting in view of the arrival point; and before anyone could speak, they heard the goddess' voice echo around them.

_"Go away."_

Stella sighed. "The only reason I said we should do this one first is because I know what she's got coming," she murmured. "But that ride of hers isn't going to make it easy." She reached for her Beast Blade.

Rock's hand stopped her. "Stella... All of you, would you mind leaving this to us?"

_"Go away."_

Nana turned to her. "What?"

"No," Stella insisted. "That actually sounds like a good idea. We don't stand a chance against  _Otherworld_." She turned to Rock. "We'll wait for you at the Town of Endings."

Gold turned. "Where?"

_"Go away."_

"I'll explain after," Rock assured her.

The party of Beasts retreated through the portal of flames, leaving the three goddesses - blue, red, and green - to turn to each other. "It's a chokepoint," Dead observed. "This valley shape here. If we go through there, she'll be ready to run us over."

_"Go away."_

"What do you propose?" Gold asked.

"That." Rock's utterance drew their attention; she was gazing at something visible from the valley. A large figure that looked like a dollhouse seemed to be floating high above it, and Rock glanced around. " _OtherSelf_ players have to come through here, and they can't get at that."

_"Go away."_

"That's... where she sleeps," Dead realized. "Where the enemies can't get at her."

Rock nodded. "I think so. I did the same thing."

"How do you expect us to get there?" Gold asked.

_"Go away."_

Dead glanced at one of the giant broken toys - a chessboard broken into five uneven pieces. She traded glances with Rock, who nodded; then she raised one finger and beckoned with a 'come here' motion, causing the largest piece to tumble towards her and the others; then she stepped onto it, causing Rock and Gold to do the same.

_"Go away."_

One hand closed into a fist, and then opened to reveal four black chain links had appeared in it. Dead tossed them into the air, and a green aura wrapped them as they extended into long chains, slamming to four points on the chessboard piece. Rock closed her eyes as the chains connected to one another above the center of the piece; before they had a chance to succumb to gravity, bird's talons appeared to clench them, and then the rest of a massive white bird appeared as it started to flap its wings.

Gold stumbled as their platform rose off the ground, lifting out of the valley. "You two work pretty well together," she observed.

"Don't thank us yet," Dead admitted. "I just hope Lv 154 will keep these chains intact long enough to get us there."

"Or 151 is enough to let this bird fly that long," Rock admitted.

* * *

The trip to the Enduring Shelter was uneventful enough (Stella was starting to think encounters were supposed to be less frequent once a goddess' domain was empty), and the Beasts quickly made their way to the warp orb and teleported back to the Town of Endings. Stella was surprised at what they found when they got there; there was a light  _rain_ coming down, a few drops hitting the back of Stella's neck and trailing under the collar of her Render's Wear.

A high squeal broke through her lips, and she quickly opened her menu and tapped to the equipment selection. " _Rain!?_ "

Nana raised the hood on her Other Cloak as Stella's own appeared around her; Ron's headwear provided satisfactory precipitation protection, but Acta and Nico's garb had no such befitting, causing them to quickly run under a nearby NPC shop's overhang. Ram's elegant dress was rather less-than-weatherproof, yet she didn't seem bothered, only holding her hands out curiously. "Strange... I didn't think  _OSO_ had weather patterns."

"It  **doesn't** ," Nana insisted. "I mean, unless you count the snowfall in the Tundra getting less at night so your visibility's not any worse. This never happened in the beta test."

"It's that new, then?" inquired a voice from nearby; the Beasts turned to find a player in a starry-patterned coat coming out from the shop Acta and Nico were standing under. "This started out of nowhere yesterday. It's not even all over the Plain, it's  _just_  here in Town. Hasn't let up, either, might wanna stick to the cloaks." Then, her gaze going to Ram; "Although I'm not going to complain if you're going to give me a view like that."

Everyone turned to Ram in surprise;  _OSO_ 's dev team had apparently taken the effects of water on a white garment into account. "Oh shit!" One arm quickly crossed her chest as the other hand opened her menu, and she tapped to her equipment menu as the player took off with a laugh. 

"You were asking for that, standing in the rain in a white dress," Ron observed.

"Dude, don't frickin' stare!"

Ron quickly turned away, and Stella giggled on seeing the red that decorated his face. Ram quickly changed into an Other Cloak of her own, throwing the hood up as she muttered, "And here I was thinking it's stupid that the game doesn't let you sell this thing."

"Yesterday," Nana murmured. "Yesterday, we got Dead out of her domain. Do you think that had anything to do with it?"

"No way," Stella insisted. "She's the third goddess we've found. If something was going to happen, it would have happened after I found Rock, wouldn't it?"

Ram hummed. "You were... You were using Rock's gun yesterday, weren't you?" she asked, turning to Stella.

"Huh? Uh... yeah."

"And each goddess is supposed to drop their weapons when we defeat them," Ram recalled. "What if... when you used her cannon, the game thought you had defeated her and taken her weapon?"

Ron turned to her. "Which means, if we can find the others, and they let us use their weapons... it'll count as us having defeated them."

Nana faced the direction of the Field of White. "And that'll extinguish their flames in the auditorium... and give us our way out."

* * *

The sudden trembling of the chains supporting their chessboard fragment came all too close to the dollhouse; Gold started as their platform became unsteady. "Dammit... So close!"

Rock swore, glancing up; her great white bird was starting to falter in its flight. "Dammit..."

Dead shook her head. "If I try to chain us to the building, it'll just leave us hanging beneath it until they run out!"

Gold took a ready-to-run stance. "Follow me!"

She charged to the edge of their lift and leapt off, sending the whole thing rocking as she moved forward. Her feet connected with the air, and ripples of red emerged through the air beneath her feet. She took a couple paces before leaping to the left, generating another few ripples, and then to the right; she was near enough to the dollhouse then that she leapt forward and arced into a flip to dive through a window sabatons-first.

"That woman is crazy," Dead murmured, on seeing the angles of the latter two platforms; the left one was at 45 degrees, and the right one at almost eighty.

"A counselor has to be outside the problem," Rock defended.

The platform dipped again, and when its swing took it closer to the platforms Dead dashed forward, leaping off the ripples in the same pattern Gold had done - and Rock was very concerned when layers of the ripples disappeared as her feet left them. She managed to grab the windowframe that Gold had broken open, and Rock made to follow suit... and the bird disappeared, leaving the chains to separate as the platform fell. Her leapt was only enough to stop her from going downward rather than give her any momentum up, and she quickly kicked off the air to propel herself forward and land upon Gold's ripples. She watched her feet as she moved, making sure she didn't step into any of the holes Dead had unintentionally left, leaping left and then right... and then the platforms faded, blinking out without warning and leaving her with forward momentum and not enough upward.

Her Black Blade appeared in her grip, and she drove it into the spit of rock the house floated upon, giving her just enough leverage to throw her upper body onto it.

"Multiple platforms means less time on each," she muttered as though Gold could hear her. "Why did you make them so big when you had three of them that needed to be strong enough for landings like that?"

As she was pulling herself onto the stone, Dead turned away from the window to find Gold with her eyes on something in the corner. The room was a large one, with two windows - the two of them having come through the right one, from the inside - and the counselor was now standing before the wall as though seeing something. "What's wrong?"

"This," Gold muttered. "There's something here."

She reached forward; what Dead had thought was a solid wall turned out to be a pair of drawn-tight curtains, which she quickly pulled apart. Standing behind it was a humanoid figure - a humanoid figure that was all too familiar. A mannequin stood there, wearing a pale wig with long twintails, and wearing a Shooter's Jacket... and its body was covered in stab wounds.

"That's... Rock," Dead murmured.

"Why would she dress something up like Rock and then attack it like this?" Gold murmured.

Her hand reached towards the mannequin... and the light coming through the still-intact window went dark. The window, and half of the wall it was set into  _shattered_ , and Gold was mid-turn when something slammed into her, knocking off a tenth of her red HP bar as it continued through the building and broke out the other side before flying off the platform.

Dead saw a blur of bronze movement, but her eyes were sharp enough to make it out - eight angular legs drawing something with wheels.

The thing's forward momentum prevented Gold from tumbling off it before she was able to brace herself around it. It was a massive spider-like figure - but the head she was pressed against looked like a twisted doll's, with a veil around it that was as stiff as the head it was connected to. No sooner had she fixed her position upon it than the face shifted, its mouth opening up wider than anything had business doing; and from it emerged a shape of... pink? It slammed into Gold; a soft shape, but solid enough to send her flying forward, and moving fast enough to knock off another tenth of her HP. It had rotation to it, too, enough that she was tumbling off it, and more were flying after her in red, white, orange, grey, black, purple.

_Macarons!?_

Another two collided with her, glancing blows that still dealt a twentieth each; then she arced into a flip and drove her sabatons into a blue one with intent to send it back the way it came. That instead left her legs impaled in it, although that was enough to prevent her from taking any more damage as it continued on its path; she quickly realized the region had defined (if patchwork-looking) walls, and rotated herself so the macaron would connect with it first. The bombardment collided in haphazard pattern, and Gold quickly pried herself out of the pastry and land safely on two legs, drawing her saw-edged greatsword as they all shattered into light.

The crawler had landed while she was flying, and was now charging towards her; when it saw her, it opened its mouth again, firing at her once more. Heavy swings of her weapon knocked one, two, three, four aside; a fifth was slammed with the flat of the blade, sending it flying back through the barrage. It seemed to enter the crawler's mouth, for it closed for a moment... but then it opened again, and they surged out with the rapid-fire manner of a machine gun.

Something landed in front of Gold - it was Dead, and her great scythe was in her hands. She swept it behind her, the tip cutting threateningly close to Gold's hair; then she lashed it forward, and it began to spin in her hands at the speeds of a rotary saw, and the macarons that collided with it were sent flying in all directions... except forward. The crawler's bombardment was not hindered, nor was the creature struck by its own projectiles, and it was coming dangerously close as Dead defended.

A black shape fell from above... and met the crawler moments before impact.

The connection was forceful enough to deal Rock HP damage - a fifth of her full bar - and the physics engine sent the crawler toppling to the side; her Black Blade, impaled in its back, kept her firmly upon it as it tumbled. Its legs moved as it was turning, bending low for a moment and then extending when it was nearly vertical, and the entire thing was launched into the air as it turned, dragging the wheels behind it to a spin. Seated between them, in a dangerously thin frame, was a figure in a black dress; her long hair, an orange gradient, was held back by a steely black crown, and her hands, in taloned black gloves, were closed on the controls. Her feet - golden wheels - spun wildly from the momentum they had maintained from being held to the ground, and on her back was sheathed a double-edged broadsword.

Chariot.

In the same moment the crawler landed, it began to charge again; and Rock, still on top of it, was taken along for the ride. She quickly pried her sword out and got to her feet, standing tall on the crawler's back and putting her in view of the rider. Mary was visibly shocked to see her standing there - her Shooter's Jacket flapping in the wind, her Black Blade closed in her hand - but after a moment shock gave way to anger, and Rock was overcome with a sense of dread.

Her hands left the controls, but the machine kept moving; then they slammed to the edges of the wheels between which she stood, and she was thrown out of her seat faster than Rock thought possible. One hand closed around her throat before she could react, and Rock found herself slammed to the spider's back, finding Kagari seething above her.

"I'm sick of this," she growled. "I'm sick of you little  _shits_ ripping off my friends!  _I'm **sick**_ _of it! **Go away!**_ "

She dragged Rock off the spider and hurled her at the ground on its left side; she hit the floor and bounced off, and spiked ripped out the sides of the vehicle's wheels. Rock had no chance to react before she was hit by them, taking off another tenth of her HP bar - and that was before the crawler approached the walls it had gotten near without her noticing, slamming the rider into them and grinding her against it. Another fifth was sheared off her HP bar before she managed to manifest her cannon, and the solid build managed to push the vehicle away enough for her to fall to the ground, tumbling as it crawled away.

Gold had started running when the vehicle had resumed its charge; and although she hadn't quite managed to keep pace with it, she was still near enough that Mary - seated back in the controls - decided to aim it towards her rather than check to make sure Rock was gone. It stampeded towards her, and she quickly skidded to a stop; the blades on her sabatons ripped up sparks across the floor before she raised her greatsword over her shoulder, and she promptly arced into a spin and flung it forward, sending it turning end over end as it flew through the air. The weapon slammed into its face saw-edge first... and though it wasn't the horizontal glance that would let each cut damage individually, it had enough momentum that the construct, which was  _not_ an attack ability, was broken through.

Its legs gave way as the structure deformed, tumbling across the ground; then it  **exploded** , sending flames into the air as the carriage was consumed in the blast. A crowned figure flew through the flames, hit the ground, and tumbled with enough force to take a few hits off the yellow HP bar above her; then she skidded to a stop before Gold.

One wheel of the carriage slammed to the ground behind Mary, its spikes jutting out threateningly.

With a groan of pain, she started to move. "G... go away..." Her hands dragged across the ground as she tried to pick herself up. "Go... away..."

Something appeared on the ground at her side. It was a white cup, with a thin string trailing into the ground from its base - and from the cup emerged a voice.

"I'm not going to go away."

Mary's eyes widened, and slowly, she turned towards the cup. "Y...Yomi...?"

"I'm not going to go away. You know me better than that."

Kagari reached forward, her hand closing on the cup. "Yomi... You're...?" She turned back to Saya, who took a wary step back. "Then you're... you're really Irino?"

A quiet nod.

Her gaze fell. "Then... that was really... Kuroi?"

" **Is** really Kuroi."

The voice from behind caused them all to turn, finding Mato standing there looking sore. "That thing really hurts, you know that?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, Mary is not aware of the players of OSO. What kind of gamer -hasn't- yelled at their game's enemies at some point? I know Abyssion has had me screaming at him to hold still more than once.


	33. Looking for Yew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't get B★RS The Game because I'm Canadian and it's only downloadable from the American PS Store. If I get a larger memory card (and I probably should anyways, considering the amount of pick-and-choose I've had to do with certain DLC downloads), I MIGHT be able to trick my PSP into loading the American PS Store via an American account and make the download. The alternative is to trouble an American friend-of-a-friend who I don't think I've ever met personally to download the game and send me the memory card. The much-less-favourable alternative is to find a PSP emulator (I've never emulated anything running harder than a GBA on my system and that was already kind of spotty), find someone who's got a ROM of the game (I've seen hoops jumped just to get something like Tales of Phantasia), and hope everything runs smoothly, and that is questionably legal.
> 
> Sometimes I just kinda wish I was a total selfish bitch so I didn't have to suffer these kinds of scruples.

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: Other Cloak

Nana  
Armour: Ocean's Splash  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Sword of the Spirit  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Romantic Defender  
Weapon: Water Ring  
Weapon: Bubble Edge  
Garb: False Armour (Shadow Coat)

Acta  
Armour: Shade's Fur  
Weapon: Moonlit Axe  
Weapon: Sister's Promise  
Garb: Blackjack

Nico  
Armour: Sea of Fire  
Weapon: Darkness Claws  
Garb: Freelance

Ram  
Armour: Knight of Darkness  
Weapon: Sunlit Blade  
Weapon: Spinning Blades  
Garb: Other Cloak

"Rain...?"

Mary's murmur as the four of them appeared in the Town of Endings was not the only confusion; Dead and Gold exchanged confused glances as the precipitation fell around them. Rock only held her hand out, catching a few drops in her palm as she murmured, "This wasn't happening last time."

"I'm not surprised the others aren't waiting out here," Gold observed. "You know where the inn is?"

Rock led the other three to the inn; Mary kept herself between Dead and Gold to make sure no wayward players noticed her rolling. That didn't stop them from being incredibly conspicuous, but it was late, and without many players outside at all, they managed to avoid incident until they had arrived, stepping inside warily. Stella and Ron were waiting in the inn lobby, and the only people to be there; a smile rose briefly on Rock's face before they noticed the goddesses come in, and Stella quickly waved them over.

"Hello again," she mused as they say down; her attention was on Mary.

"What's with the rain?" Rock inquired. "That didn't happen last time."

Ron sighed. "We have a theory... but it can wait. It's just an aesthetic effect. Right now, the more pertinent task is finding the last one."

"Last one," Mary hummed. "I really hope you've got a plan beyond  _barge in guns blazing_  for dealing with Yew."

"We didn't 'barge in'," Gold defended. "It's not our fault you sleep in a skyloft."

Stella coughed lightly to get their attention. "We were talking about that before the others called it a night," she explained. "Can all of you make Colourful Birds?"

"Given the isolations that happened during the beta," Dead admitted, turning to Mary, "I think that should work if you just think about it."

Curious, Mary raised a hand, closing her eyes for a moment... and with a flash, a Colourful Bird did indeed appear there. Uncertain, she raised a hand towards it, prompting the message box to appear before her, and she quickly tapped something out and then selected Rock's name, causing the bird to fly around the table to reach Rock.

A dialogue box appeared;  _Sorry I hurt you._

"Don't worry about it," Rock assured her, tapping the close button for the box.

Ron started talking as the bird shimmered away. "I was thinking, we split into four groups, in the morning. And each of those groups goes to a different region. Then you all send a Colourful Bird to Strength, and that maximizes the chance that someone will find her entrance before it changes location."

Gold smiled. "That's sounds a lot more reliable than Rock's 'three birds from one location' plan."

"You didn't have any better ideas," Rock defended.

Mary sighed. "Well, then let's call it a night and get going in the morning," she mused. "Can we get rooms?"

"Yes," Stella assured her, "you can."

* * *

The next day, they split up the party into four. Nico and Acta went with Mary, travelling to the north Blizzard Checkpoint; at Nana's (surprisingly relentless) insistence, Stella and Ram went with Rock to the Rise in the Sands, and Ron went with Gold to the Circle of Hell, leaving her to travel with Dead to the Hunter's Village.

"What in the world was that about?" Stella inquired as they stepped out onto the Sandsea.

"Well, if Gold's to be believed," Ram observed, "nobody wants to be an unwelcome third player."

Stella turned to her, confused for a moment. As realization struck, she opened her mouth to object, but Ram's raised eyebrow reduced her to unconvincing stuttering before she turned to Rock. "Is it that obvious?"

Rock turned away from the Colourful Bird on her finger as the player list popped up, angling her hand side to side. "If you know what to look for," she replied. "You're not blatant about it, but you two kinda _spark_."

She tapped Yew's name on the player listing, and the bird began to fly; Rock started to follow it, pursued by Ram and a blushing Stella.

A few encounters (shot down by Rock's cannon) latter, they were surprised to find the bird was flying towards the Survivalist Jungle again. Either Strength's domain had changed locations since they left Chariot's yesterday, or  _OSO_ didn't bother to keep the domains entrances spaced out.

"I don't say this enough," Ram muttered. "I hate this place."

"You say that every day we spend here," Stella reprimanded.

"How many days have you spent here?" Rock inquired.

Stella hummed. "Thirteen, I think."

Ram shook her head. "Still don't say it enough."

Something audibly snapped when Rock's leg passed through it; she came to an abrupt halt, and the other two collided with her. Nobody had a chance to react further before a net manifested beneath them, curling up around them and dragging them into the air. Rock found someone's hand trapped unpleasantly against her lower body, and Stella found her face pressed to someone's chest as they rose; then the momentum faded, and their positions were startled, Rock's head landing on someone's behind, Stella's leg tangled in the rope, and Ram's hand trapped between someone's thighs.

"...This never happened," Stella pleaded.

"Agreed," Rock and Ram assured her at once.

Ram managed to shift her hand so the blades on her 'shield' started moving; then she pressed them against the cage. The ropes were quickly cut through with a few movements, and she and Rock tumbled to the ground; Stella, however, was still entangled on the net, hanging upside down as swore. "Dammit."

"Can't help you there," Ram apologized.

"Don't worry about me," Stella insisted, "there are still gonna be monsters coming this way."

Rock's cannon appeared on her arm as she smirked. "Not for long, there aren't."

She aimed the weapon between nearby trees, firing shots into the ground. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven; then the cannon faded, and she curled her fingers into a fist but left the pinky extended.

A pack of monsters swarmed them that looked like goblins on steroids.

Then Rock curled her pinky in, and the bombs all detonated at once, taking out the goblins and earning several Immortal Object notices from the trees in the process. A win screen appeared in front of her, and she grinned as she lowered her hand, turning to Stella. "Now how are we gonna get you down from there."

Stella tried to reach up, but found herself unpleasantly weighed down by her Beast Blade; her downward slump sent the rope swinging. "It's tied up on my leg," she explained, making to reach up on the forward swing; that only accelerated her momentum when she came down again. "I have to unwrap it to come loose or... I'll be catching on everything in the jungle."

"Why not just turn your blades on?" Ram inquired, visibly amused at seeing Rock swinging like a circus acrobat.

"The spinners on the feet don't run if I... I'm not fighting something," Stella explained.

"I mean the leg ones," Ram elaborated.

Stella stopped mid-reach, slumping down again as she swung back again. "I guess that could work," she admitted. Her hand went to her Seven-Shots, and the blades on the greaves manifested, cutting through most of the loose stuff on the forward swing - and unintentionally dropping it on Rock's head. Her leg was tied up at the ankle, just past the base of the blade, but on the backswing she managed to reach her free leg up and sever the rope, slicing it free at the peak of her arc and tumbling through the air.

Ram and Rock panicked when a swirl of orange flames appeared where she was falling.

"No, Stella!"

Rock charged forward, fast as  _Otherworld_ would let her - but she was only close enough to see the bricked-off fist in the center of the vortex before it vanished.

" _ **Kohacchi!**_ "

* * *

The entrance to a goddess' domain maintained a transporting player's momentum through the aesthetics of the transport - and when that momentum is something like falling, it tends to accelerate itself. When Stella emerged from the orange vortex, she hit the ground far faster than she had been moving when she had entered the portal, her back slamming to the ground hard enough to bounce half a turn and leave her landing on her stomach. Her Seven-Shots was still closed in her grip, and with a groan, she shoved it back into its holster as she got to her feet.

"Ow..."

A blip in her HUD; Ram's HP bar had disappeared. With a curse, she started to approach the portal again - and suddenly, the surface beneath her feet changed. A deep purple stone walkway ringed with bronze, suspended on nothing in skies that looked like fire through smoke, suddenly fell to vertical, leaving Stella's feet on nothing; she plummeted just beneath the portal, her fingertips brushing the orange flames. Then the walkway moved again, shifting back to horizontal and slamming into Stella as it did, and she was sent flying, tumbling uncontrollably through the air. Mid-turn she saw what looked like a titanic block puzzle, in black with bronze lining; it seemed to be segmented three-by-three, but it was hard to tell with uneven pieces jutting out without rhyme or reason, all visibly formed from cubes.

It shifted thrice as she neared it, the layout changing, and she landed roughly on a single smooth segment in the middle of the top layer; every other segment around her was covered in protrusions with which she collided roughly.

 _This is... the last domain - **Yuu** 's domain._ Arata got to her feet.  _But where...?_

The puzzle shifted again; the top layer rotated ninety degrees, sending her stumbling, and then a section beside her spun; the deformations were tall enough to obscure everything around her, but she could have sworn she saw a black, metallic tail rising above them. Then the center segment rotated 180, and Arata was nearly thrown off the edge; it was spinning faster than she was moving, and she managed to grab one of the deformations in the center to support herself. A scream almost broke through her lips when she saw that beneath this rotating region was a dark surface, covered in fiery cracks like a volcanic floor... upon which were scattered  _OSO_ grave markers.

She had no time to contemplate before her segment moved, spinning her around and battering her against the other protrusions; the collisions knocked off half of her HP bar as it rotated 180 degrees, and then a segment on the other side of her handhold shifted. Standing before and above her, her feet vertical against the puzzle's surface, was a figure in black - a sleeveless jacket with a raised hood, and a collar with white flame patterns, high enough to obscure her mouth. Her hair was a pale shade of grey, and her eyes bright orange; her legs were covered in thigh-high white stockings, and her feet in black shoes with thick, black cuffs around the ankles. A black flame tattoo was visible on each of her arms, but only faintly - for those arms were buried in massive, mechanical fists, connected to a long, segmented tail that trailed down her back, extended out, and ended in what looked like a spearhead. The tail lashed about behind her, and the knuckles were pressed against the surface beneath her feet.

Strength.

Again did the puzzle shift, dragging Arata to the top layer; she lost her handhold and slammed into the next segment, and then the center portion rotated, battering her further and taking off another quarter of her bar - her HP was in the pale zone as the segments before her shifted. She had no chance to react before the orange goddess was standing before her, and something dug under her neck and curled around it, dragging her upright as the goddess glared.

Her head was angled enough to bare the twisted smile on her face.

Then the tail moved, and the last segment of Arata's HP was gone before she even realized it was happening; Strength's tail ripped through her neck, pulling back, and her body shattered into light.

* * *

"Great, now it's going back into the caves."

Gold's exasperated utterance as the Colourful Bird flew into one of the entrances earned a sigh from Ron. "Well, that means the entrance is down there," he observed. "If it were in one of the other regions, it'd keep flying out here."

As they entered, Ron switched out of his fire-resistant garb - a convoluted process, given his wear of choice. First, he had to switch his armour from the demigod drop to the Shadow Coat from the Survivalist Jungle. Then, he equips his garb, which takes the form of his armour and locks his appearance to that outfit. Only after that is he free to change his armour back to the demigod drop; they had crossed three rooms by the time he closed his menu.

And a blur of black slammed into the door ahead of them, at speeds only a player in the 150s could achieve.

Gold yelped as Rock recoiled off the door, her blue HP bar taking a small hit. There was something hooked on the back of her glove - a stylized bird like one might see on a royal crest, white with rainbow feathers like a Colourful Bird, and that hand seemed to be jerking forward. "Rock!" she exclaimed. "What are you-!?"

" _Kohacchi went into Yuu's domain and the entrance changed places!_ "

"What!?"

Rock shoved the door open, causing the bird to start flying in; to Gold's surprise, Rock charged ahead of it, her bird-marked hand held ahead of her. Ron was the first to follow her into the next room, demanding, "Where's Ram? Don't tell me you just left Ram behind?"

He got no response, Rock throwing the next door open and charging ahead.

Ron turned to Gold. "She just left Ram behind!"

"The doors will slow her down," Gold observed. "Follow her, I'll keep my eye out for Ram."

* * *

_What's happening to me...?_

Arata could see nothing, hear nothing - **feel** nothing. She couldn't move... she couldn't  **breathe**. It was as though her mind had been separated from her body; an emptiness surrounded her, in which she had nothing but her thoughts... and her fear.

And then, a voice - a low, grating voice, as though its owner had not spoken in a long time - cut through that emptiness.

"Return."

A sudden light cleaved that emptiness, and suddenly, Arata was on her knees. An attempt to take a deep breath found her lungs disagreeing with such a strenuous motion, and she was left panting, gasping, her hands pressed to the floor before her as she tried to gain the strength to stand.

After a long moment, she managed to raise her gaze - and Strength was standing over her.

The platform shifted, and Arata was thrown to the side from the 180 rotation of the top segment. She ended up halfway between two protrusions as they shifted down another 180 degrees - she pressed her arms against them, trying to stop herself from falling. Another segment before her shifted 90, and something began to change in the surface below. Flames burst out of the cracks in the volcanic floor, blazing for a moment before receding again, emerging at random points - sometimes obscuring a grave marker as they did.

The puzzle moved again, the lower half rotating; Arata's handholds started to slip, and then the portion she was on was rotated 90 degrees upwards. She lost her grip and tumbled skyward and sideways, landing on the center portion; then it rotated downward, 270 degrees, flinging her into the air above the puzzle. Strength was standing below her - her massive, metallic hands were raised, each finger aimed forward, and before she could begin to fall, projectiles flew from each fingertip.

The first shot was enough to take out her entire HP bar; the remaining bombardments merely tore holes in her body until it shattered into light. A grave marker appeared before the orange goddess, directly beneath where Arata had been, and the puzzle stopped moving as she stopped firing. Her hands closed into fists, and she lashed them aside, throwing away spent shells; then she approached the grave marker.

 _Stella  
_ _Revive by: 12min 42sec_

She stood there, waiting, until the timer was down to  _1min 30sec_ ; then her tail lashed in front of her, and in the hollow spike of its tip appeared a silver crystal.

"Return."

* * *

'Slowing down' turned out to mean that Ron was able to continuously see the door Rock had gone through closing behind her when he sprinted through each room as fast as his legs would let him - occasionally catching a hint of a blue HP bar in chains of short rooms. To his horror, however, one such hint of blue was rounding the dead end - with the trap crystal - of the intersection where they had fought the Stagnant Souls; with only a moment's hesitation, Ron gave a groan of self-loathing and chased after her, continuing unhindered when the rockfall slammed into the intersection behind him.

Rock was battering at the entrance behind it, punching it angrily and earning Immortal Object warnings under every blow. "Dammit, let me in!"

"Rock-  _Rock!_ " Ron's warning came from far enough away that her angry whirling around was well out of risk of dealing him damage, and he said quickly before she could protest; "It slides." He stepped up beside her and set his hands on the segment of the door before shoving it aside, asking, "How do you even know she's here?"

"Colourful Guide on my glove points me in the right direction," Rock snapped quickly. "Come on!"

They charged into the open area behind the door; Kaede's grave marker was still lying against the far wall, and in the center of area appeared a swirl of orange flames. Rock didn't even hesitate - she charged into the domain, bird-guided hand held before her, and Ron, not wanting to leave her alone, followed her in.

When the swirl of orange flames faded, he was terrified at what he saw. The place made Hell Mountain look  _dormant_ \- dark skies that looked like they had been set alight, and a volcanic floor spewing flames every so often. A massive block puzzle floated some ways away; standing atop it was the goddess, and kneeling before her was  _Stella_ , struggling to catch her breath.

"P-Please...."

Her voice sounded tormented, and Stella raised her gaze to the goddess.

"Stop..."

A skeletal tail on the goddess' back lunged forward; it drove through Stella's head, and Ron **screamed** as her HP bar depleted with the same haste as any player they had seen fall to the goddesses already.

Mato charged forward, screaming; "Yuu, stop!"

Arata's body shattered; the tail was pulled away, hanging in the air behind the goddess. After a moment, the Colourful Guide on Stella's glove started to tremble; she couldn't react before it ripped off the back of her glove, soaring straight towards the remaining figure atop the block.

The tail lashed through it; the emblem shattered, and the  _fragments of light_ turned to black.

"Your greeting is rather late, Black Rock Shooter. The little bird has died."

The goddess turned to face them, and Mato saw the twisted pleasure in her eyes.

"My name is Strength."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me.


	34. Strength

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fights like STR v IB★RS are so absolutely awesome, sometimes I wish I could just transcribe it blow-by-blow.

Ron  
Armour: Romantic Defender  
Weapon: Water Ring  
Weapon: Bubble Edge  
Garb: False Armour (Shadow Coat)

The expression on the face before her terrified Mato in a way that she had never felt in the past. There was no trace of Yuu's hardy endurance upon that expression, the girl who had been targeted every day and never shown weakness for years; that was the face of one who had given up all hope of anything but battle, and come to relish in it. That terror left Mato paralyzed; it was too horrifying to think of it as Yuu Koutari.

Strength raised her great arms, and the walkway upon which they stood shifted. Ron barely had a chance to react before it fell to vertical, causing them to fall, and then shifted horizontal again to knock them forward. The great block puzzle on which the goddess stood began to shift, pieces turning - and Ron watch with horror as the segment where Stella's grave marker lay was rotated 180 degrees downward... and the grave tumbled off, falling towards the volcanic floor.

Where hundreds of grave markers already lay.

He had no chance to react before Strength drew her fist back with intent visible on her face to strike them both. Rock reacted quickly, her weapon manifesting on her arm - as the spiked crushing blade - and meeting the blow on its build; Ron tumbled over the blow and landed on the platform behind the goddess, while Rock was sent spinning as her cannon faded. Another blow was narrowly evaded, and Rock landed at Strength's side; her tail began to thrust forward, and Rock narrowly avoided getting her head impaled on it as Stella had been. When their foothold began to move again, she quickly slammed a kick into Strength's leg, causing her to stumble to pieces that were moving away; then Ron and Rock were turned 90 degrees in the other direction, hanging off the protrusions.

Rock knew that thirteen minutes weren't going to Stella any good if they were wasted fighting. "You have to jump!"

Ron looked at her like she was insane. "What?"

She didn't wait for a response, grabbing his arm and shoving him off the block puzzle; then she willed  _Otherworld_ to slow his fall when he got near as her own arms pulled her atop the block puzzle. No sooner had she found a foothold than the pieces began to spin again, but she managed to avoid tumbling any further as Strength was pulled to the top, arm already raised to clothesline her. Rock narrowly dodged the blow, a Black Blade appearing in her grip, and when that tail was lashed at her, she met it on the blade edge.

The tail curled around the blade, and Rock was caught off-guard when it tightened around the weapon and  **shattered it**.

"What-!?"

Then Strength swung her fist again, and when the blow connected, Rock found a  _third_ of her HP depleted as she was thrown off the block puzzle, slamming into the vertical surface of the walkway she had come in upon.

That strike was enough to falter her attention; but  _Otherworld_ had already slowed Ron's fall enough that the impact didn't deal more than a sliver of HP damage. He quickly opened his menu and invoked a revival crystal, and knowing it only needed to be in proximity, he yelled, "Return!"

Panic caught him when neither the crystal nor any of the graves around him reacted. He started to walk between the graves as fast as he safely could, repeating, "Return! Return! Return! Stella, please,  **r** **eturn!** "

Strength laughed maniacally upon the block. " _Return, return!_ " Her tail twisted, and one of the graves - the only one that had yet to expire - began to glow, bright enough that Ron could make out the countdown upon it. Then the puzzle twisted, leaving Strength standing upside down upon it, and she raised her hands so the fingers were aiming down at him.

Rock quickly propelled herself off the walkway, throwing herself in the way. Wide ripples burst out around her feet, upon which she landed with a roll that took her just out of range - when Strength began to fire, the bullets collided ineffectively with the platform, drawing a seething hiss from the goddess. As soon as she stopped firing, Rock leapt up, seizing her by the tail and pulling with intent to drag her down; but the puzzle was already moving when her feet left its surface, and a hand against one of the protrusions dragged her to the top - and sent Rock flying.

"You little  _shit!_ "

A solid blue platform appeared above Rock as she turned; it started to fall before she slammed into it feet-first and off-balance, sending it spinning. Before Strength could fire at her, she kicked skyward off its surface, throwing it down at the goddess; Strength only drew one hand back, slamming it into the platform to knock it back in Rock's direction. Rock's cannon quickly appeared on her arm, and she quickly thrust it forward to send it back, firing a single shot as it connected to accelerate it - but Strength was still fast enough, drawing her other hand back and returning it again.

The shot that had landed  **exploded** , throwing the platform back at point-black range and causing Strength to stumble. Rock dismissed her cannon as she tumbled, grasping a protrusion on the side of the platform; below, she saw one of the grave markers consumed in light, and asking  _Otherworld_ for a closer look revealed Stella appearing there on her knees as Ron slumped over in relief. She quickly closed her eyes, and a great white bird appeared beside them.

Another shift of the puzzle dragged her under and around it before bringing her back up; Strength was firing her hands relentlessly as the place where she expected Rock to rise. A well-timed push took her just barely aside - a glancing blow still took off a thirtieth of HP as she stopped her flight at Strength's side, kicking the joint of one arm. She twisted forward, her hands closing into fists as she turned round and made to swing at Rock, who floored herself to evade it and then propelled herself into a two-foot kick in Strength's chest; then, as she was stumbling, Rock asked the puzzle to turn, causing the top layer to twist aside and then two segments to twist at half-rotations that kept the goddess from seeing the bird below.

Ron and Stella had mounted the bird, which was now flying towards the domain exit - Rock was pushing the bird to fly as fast as it could and still keep the  _OtherSelf_ players upon its back. A sudden shift caught her off-guard as the rotations were completed; the middle layer spun, and then the center segment whirled back as Strength shot up, a fist to either side and her tail thrusting forward. Rock, however, had gripped a protrusion on the center segment with her legs, keeping her out of reach; nonetheless, it was enough for Strength to see the bird as it neared the walkway.

The walkway slammed horizontal again, striking the bird in the beak and causing it to turn around; then Strength swung her hands forward, flinging a bombardment of spent shells in the bird's direciton. Ron took Stella in his arms and leapt, and as the cascade collided with the bird hard enough to take it out, the vortex of flames appeared before him.

Rock held a hand towards him, and a single small ring appeared beneath his foot - a momentary foothold from which he was able to propel himself out of the domain.

Then the puzzle began to rotate again, and she seized a portion that was moving up to pull her atop the surface. Strength was waiting for her, her tail nearly swinging through her neck; it still skimmed the back of her head hard enough to take off a twentieth of HP damage, and Rock quickly leapt to the walkway, well out of melee range and with plenty of room to react from gunfire.

Strength seethed, raising her hands threatningly. "Black Rock Shooter," she growled. "Are you even trying? _Is that all you have!?_ "

Mato was sure at this point; Yuu was beyond reason. She needed to overcome her friend before she could bring her back from the brink... and she wasn't going to do anything of the sort if she didn't give it her all.

"I don't want to..."

The blue flame ignited in her eye, throwing her hood back and letting her twintails flow free.

"... **but I will hurt you!** "

Strength's lips curled into a twisted berserker grin as Rock's cannon appeared on her arm.

* * *

Ron hit the ground in the cavern roughly, managing to stay upright. Slowly, he set Stella down, finding her eyes closed tight and her body shaking. "Stella?"

"It... hurts..." Stella's voice sounded fearful, tortured. "It hurts... It hurts... It hurts..."

"Stella, _Stella._ " He set his hand on her shoulder. "You're alright. You're out of there."

"What happened...?" Tears were beginning to flow down her face. "What happened to her...?"

He had no answer for her; he only put his arms around her and pulled her close, offering her a shoulder to cry upon.

* * *

A heavy shot was met on Strength's palm mid-thrust; Rock managed to catch the blow on her cannon, but it was still enough to send her skidding back. She kicked off the air for slight upward momentum, then again to throw herself back forward; when Strength threatened to strike her again, she fired another shot into her palm, affecting her momentum just enough to let the blow pass her ineffectively. She landed with one foot on the goddess' shoulder, the other delivering a sharp kick to her nose that had her stumbling before Rock leapt to the corner of the block puzzle.

Strength raised her hands, intending to fire; but the shots, still stuck on her palms, quickly detonated with enough force to lift her off the blocks. Rock promptly curled her legs around a protrusion and directed the puzzle to rotate, dragging her underneath and then rotating the bottom layer as her cannon changed forms before bringing her back up weapon-first. Strength quickly slammed her hands to either side of the cannon, but no sooner had she made to strike over it than a spread shot ripped out the barrel, throwing her back and dragging Rock after her.

The weapon faded as Rock used the momentum to deliver another solid kick to the forehead, then used that as leverage to leap away, her cannon reappearing as she fired rapid shots at Strength. A few landed on her arms and torso, but the arms were quickly raised to catch the rest; then Rock's cannon changed again, and she fired a two homing shots that arced through the air and slammed into her shoulders from the sides. As Strength was stumbling, Rock willed the puzzle to move again, dragging her underneath it; then a flock of great white birds appeared around the block, so that when she was able to shift back up she would have no clear shot.

Mato didn't want to admit it, but Yuu was much stronger; whether the sheer weight of her fists meant the physics engine augmented her strikes or she was just that much higher level, those blows could take Rock out in a one-two punch if she couldn't find a way to restrain the goddess quickly. But here, Strength had 100% dominance - she could only affect the area if Strength wasn't doing so, or **preventing** her from doing so. She couldn't well drag her out into  _OtherSelf_ ; even if Stella and Ron were clear of the domain entrance, there was no way she could risk the orange goddess killing any more players.

Gunfire began to tear through the white birds, prompting Rock to raise her cannon defensively; Strength had her fingers splayed and was firing in as many directions as she could. Once the flock was down, she closed her fists and tossed the spent shells at Rock, who leapt aside down the walkway - and the walkway quickly shifted as she dropped, prompting her to manifest a platform to land upon. Her cannon quickly became a crushing weapon as she had the platform fly in Strength's direction; letting it take her gunfire provided an adequate decoy as Rock landed behind her and slammed a swinging blow to the back of her head. Her tail swept at her, and though she managed to avoid letting it slice her head, it was still able to sever her twintails, leaving her with only two short tufts of hair as she slammed her cannon down on the tail to pin it.

_They're physical structure, so they adhere to the physics engine, but they're just attacks, so they can't be destroyed!_

Gold's words when they had been fighting Dead's skulls came back to her as the tail writhed under her weapon. Strength swung her fists again, but Rock only leapt aside, diving under the edge of the block puzzle; rather than clinging to its side, she let herself fall towards the graves below, slowing her fall as she landed. Her weapon shifted back to a projectile cannon as she raised it, firing a few solid shots that flew up as Strength rotated herself to the bottom. One collided with her face and fell back down; another slammed into her hand and caught between two fingers until she flung it free; the third was shot by her fingers, but its momentum didn't slow down enough before it struck with her shoulder.

With an angry roar, Strength leapt from the puzzle, falling towards Rock and interlocking the fingers of her giant fists to bring them down on a two-fisted punch.

Rock vaulted a grave and let her slam to the ground; and then, she willed  _Otherworld_ to do it. Black chains, wrapped in a green aura, manifested around the orange goddess - trapping her legs shut, holding her arms together in fists, binding her tail to her back and then her neck so it couldn't slip free. Every time a link connected with her body, it dealt a single point of damage; and as Strength began to struggle against them, they continued dealing damage when they moved against her. A dark silver watering can appeared in Rock's hand, and she held it forward, causing a shimmer to wrap the bound girl - healing her faster than the chains hurt her.

After a few moments struggling against it, the goddess turned to face her. "Finish it," she growled. "Finish me off!"

Mato shook her head, the flame disappearing from her eyes. "No. I would never do that. You don't deserve that, Yuu."

Fury burned in the girl's orange eyes. "That's not my name!" she hissed. "My name is Strength!"

"Then why don't you have any?"

That sad utterance earned a look of surprise, and Mato shook her head. "What happened to Yuu Koutari? What happened to the girl who wouldn't let anyone get her down? The girl who  _refused_ to be hurt?"

"You think I was never hurt!?" Yuu protested. "You think all those people treating me that way never hurt me!?"

"You never retaliated," Mato recalled. "No matter what they did, you only ever gave them a word and then left them be! I've never seen you show them how they hurt you!"

"Once, you did," Yuu reprimanded. "Once. They ruined my uniform, and I left them all bleeding at the nose and black in the eyes! And  **I** got the punishment! They suspended me for a _week_  for hurting them back!" Tears were welling up in her eyes. "Why do you think I spent so much time online? At school, everyone targeted me! At home, my parents didn't give a damn! But when I put on that NervGear, I was  **the** Shadow Hunter. People screamed when they saw me show up! Nobody stood a chance!"

She closed her eyes and bowed her head, her voice breaking. " _Otherworld_ was going to be my safe haven! A place where I could do what I wanted! No one could punish me for hurting someone who hurt me! But then we were trapped here! I've been alone for  _three years! No one to talk to but_   _ **monsters!**_ "

"Then why?" Mato pleaded. "Why were you hurting Kohacchi?"

"Kohacchi...?" Yuu's gaze rose. "That was...?"

Mato's eyes widened as she realized why. "Yuu... were you doing all the fighting yourself?"

Slowly, Yuu nodded.

"Did... Didn't you ever stop to rest? To  _sleep_?"

Hesitantly, Yuu shook her head.

She had been fighting for three years  **straight**. The haze of that much raw, mindless battle - it had clouded her memory.

It had stopped her from recognizing a friend that she had only ever seen in that unpleasant environment.

Tears rose in Mato's eyes, as well, and she pulled her friend close. "I'm sorry."

"...Mato..."

"I'm sorry..."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When we're this far into the game, I can't say much for fear of spoiling things. Sorry if I seem unresponsive.


	35. Field of White

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't get me anywhere near an MMO. I could never keep track of the equipment and abilities of an entire raid group. I have enough trouble keeping track of Class Zero.

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: None

Nana  
Armour: Ocean's Splash  
Weapon: Black Blade  
Weapon: Sword of the Spirit  
Garb: Other Cloak

Ron  
Armour: Romantic Defender  
Weapon: Water Ring  
Weapon: Bubble Edge  
Garb: False Armour (Shadow Coat)

Acta  
Armour: Shade's Fur  
Weapon: Moonlit Axe  
Weapon: Sister's Promise  
Garb: Blackjack

Nico  
Armour: Sea of Fire  
Weapon: Darkness Claws  
Garb: Freelance

Ram  
Armour: Knight of Darkness  
Weapon: Sunlit Blade  
Weapon: Spinning Blades  
Garb: White Dress

"Well, now what do we do?"

It took a while for Yew and Stella to both recover; night had started to fall when their group of eleven - the six Beasts and the five goddesses - had made their way back to the (still-rainy) Town of Endings. A single room for a dozen had Stella starting to wonder if the game left the rooms ungenerated until someone decided to stay in one of them (she made a mental note to test that with the Eternal Stadium's tents sometime); only once they were all inside and the door was locked did Rock ask her question.

"In the center of the Otherworld is the region known as the Field of White," Nana recalled. "In the center of the Field is an auditorium with five torches around it - blue, green, red, orange, yellow."

"That's us, then," Yew observed. "Those torches are us?"

Nana nodded. "Each one represents a goddess in the Otherworld. If a goddess is defeated, then the torch goes out. Once all five torches are out, the auditorium is supposed to turn into a portal... and when we go through that portal, we'll be freed from  _OtherSelf Online_."

Mary spoke up. "How are you supposed to 'defeat' us?" she demanded. "Even if we were going to just sit back and let you kill us, you're all way too weak."

"We weren't going to do anything like that," Acta reprimanded. "We don't even know if... if you guys are any different from us. If we did that, you might end up dying just like we would. And considering we're supposed to think you're monsters, you might not even get the same thirteen minutes as we do."

That set a worrisome fog over the players from _Otherworld_.

"Don't worry," Ram assured them. "We've got an alternative theory... but we need to make sure it's sound. And that means we need to get to the auditorium. But the Field of White doesn't adjust its levels like everywhere else - it's got a lot of high-end things, and we don't even know how high they expect us to be."

"So... you're asking for an escort?" Dead inquired.

Nana and Ram blushed. Stella winced. Ron facepalmed. Acta glanced at Nico, who shook his head, and the other four goddesses turned to Dead.

Dead raised her hands, panicking. "No, no, no, no! That's not what I-!"

"Well," Nico admitted with a smile, "I guess you  _could_ -"

Ron smacked him in the back of the head.

Gold sighed. "No problem," she insisted. "We'll watch your backs."

"Then, let's call it a night," Stella mused. "Come morning, we can start fighting."

* * *

 _=Field of White=_  
_Welcome to the underworld of the Otherworld._  
_The enemies upon this expanse do not adhere to the rules of OtherSelf Online. These enemies are stronger than any other random encounter in this virtual world. If any goddess can kill you in a single blow, so too can every enemy you find here._  
_The Field of White is where hope goes to die._

"Sounds like such a charming place," Mary snarked.

Everyone closed the dialogue box; then Nico turned to the goddesses. "I don't mean to sound greedy, but is there any way you could, like, make us stronger equipment?"

"I'm not sure how we'd go about that," Gold admitted. "There doesn't really seem to be much rhyme or reason to how the stuff we've made was given stats. Like..." She held a hand towards Ram's 'shield' of spinning blades. "We made that stuff after a month, more or less. But you're also using it with that" - she aimed a finger at the Black Blade on Nana's hip - "which we made on day 1. And none of  _that_ stuff" - she swept a hand at Ron, Acta, Nico, and Ram - "is anything we had to do with."

"These are all aesthetic outfits," Ron explained. "Acta and Ram are wearing original designs, Nico just makes him look like he has no armour equipped, and mine takes the form of whatever armour I'm wearing when I first put it on and stays that way. Nana's is the outfit we had at the start."

"And this was the starting weapon," Nana elaborated. "It just gets stronger as its wielder levels up."

"And none of the rest of the equipment does that?" Yew asked.

Stella looked awkward at that. "Well... actually, this stuff does." She drew her Seven Shots, causing the blades on her Render's Wear to deploy, as she set a hand on the hilt of her Beast Blade. "I'm not wearing a garb like they are."

Rock looked at her. "But that's the..." A look of realization rose on her face. "Wait."

"Something wrong?" Yew asked.

"That's it," Rock realized. "They give you the Black Blade first because that was the  **first** weapon I made, and they make it grow as you do to sort of..." She looked for the right word before deciding on " **emulate** _Otherworld_. But I made that stuff" - and here she pointed to Stella - " **after** we got stuck in those domains. Everything else got isolated for us, during the beta, and we gave it all names. But I separated _that_ myself."

"And since the  _OSO_ devs designed a way to emulate  _Otherworld_ ," Nana realized, "if they didn't assign stats to it, it automatically gives it that property."

"So if we make something for you guys," Dead realized, "and isolate it on our own, it'll have all the same properties."

"Dumb as a rock, my ass," Ron mused.

Rock made to slap him before realizing  _Otherworld_ would probably let that deal damage.

"Hey, that was a compliment!"

"Could've fooled me," Ram observed.

Yew grinned - a much friendlier smile than she had worn before, the mischevious smirk of one who plans to please her friends. "Give us a minute..."

* * *

Ron was ashamed to admit it, but he took a decidedly  **nerdy** pleasure in being able to say that he and the other Beasts had their weapons and armour "given to them by the goddesses". Ram was wearing a slightly less elaborate version of her White Dress that was somewhat better suited to combat, with a long black sword in one hand and a round black shield emblazoned with a white star. Nico had a black ensemble with an amusing rabbit hood that he decided not to raise; his hands were wrapped in gauntlets with blades lined on each knuckle. At her own insistence, Acta's current armour was almost identical to her Blackjack garb, save for a white star on the breast pocket; she was now carrying a massive black hammer with a small rabbit-eared decal on the top of the head, and a red-and-black checkered shield with a white mark like a crown next to a white _A_. Nana was wearing a black jacket with silver lining down the shoulders and down the front, a gold belt, gold-trimmed black gloves, and high black boots with low heels; Rock had made her a pair of twisted, silvery blades with serrated edges near the tips. Ron himself had a scaly black ensemble, a chakram that looked like a black snake biting its own tail, and a set of no less than _fifty_  white throwing knives that looked like fangs.

Unfortunately, that didn't make the fight through the Field of White any more pleasant; Rock, Dead, Gold, Yew, and Mary were able to take things out single-handed, but even with an entire party wielding entire sets of slashed stars, taking down a single enemy was a bit challenging. Fortunately, however, the enemies didn't use the lone-creature "EXP distributed by damage" system; letting one of the Beasts deal the killing blow got  _them_ the EXP reward, and they were all edging towards Level 90 as they neared the center of the Field.

"This is evil," Dead observed as one last batch of win screens popped up. "One year and you've only reached the mid-seventies, and none of you can deal more than a scratch to  **us**. How could they expect you to reach a level that would let you get through this place alive?"

"Well, we're supposed to have your equipment," Stella observed, "and I get the feeling the  _OSO_ devs made that the best gear in the game."

They had reached the auditorium at this point; the five torches were still burning with their multi-coloured flames. The green, red, yellow, and orange flames were burning so high that any one of them could have stood within it and been completely hidden; but the blue flame was only burning half as high, earning an indignant huff from Rock. "How come mine's smaller?" she protested.

"You let me use your cannon," Stella reminded her.

Rock scoffed, turning away for a moment; then the realization of what had been said struck her, and she turned back around. "Wait, what?"

"The main quest of  _OSO_ is to defeat the five goddesses,  _and take their weapons and armour_ ," Ram elaborated. "When you let Stella use your cannon in Dead's domain, the game registered that as her claiming your weapon. Which means, if you  **all** let us possess your weapons and armour for just a moment, then the flames will extinguish - and we'll have our way out without anyone else dying."

Dead smiled. "Well, let's give it a try."

Rock's cannon manifested on her arm in gatling mode, and she set it on the ground and pulled her arm out; then her body was wrapped in light, and when it faded she was left in what  **looked** like _OSO_ 's unarmoured character outfit - albeit with a blue top rather than a black one - as she tossed the jacket over the barrels. Stella quickly stepped forward and reached for the jacket; a prompt button appeared under her finger, and the jacket vanished as a dialogue box appeared -  _Armour obtained: Shooter's Jacket_.

And the blue flame extinguished entirely.

Stella's hand fell absently, connecting with the cannon and causing it, too, to vanish as another dialogue box appeared -  _Weapon obtained: ★rock Cannon - GTL_. Dead quickly drove her scythe in the ground as her dress, horns, and glasses all vanished, reappearing hooked over the pommel and leaving her in a green-topped version of the default attire; Nana stepped forward and tapped them, causing the green flame to extinguish.  _Armour obtained: Reaper's Dress_.  _Weapon obtained: Dead Scythe_.

Gold impaled her saw-edged blade into the ground before her; then her jacket and greaves disappeared, the former hooked over the hilt. Acta stepped forward and claimed them, extinguishing the red flame.  _Armour obtained: Queen's Greaves_.  _Weapon obtained: King Saw_. Yew's massive mechanical fists appeared on her arms, and she set the knuckles against the ground and pulled her arms out before stepping forward to pry the tail off her back; then her hoodie disappeared, hung over the spine. Nico stepped up to take them and extinguish the orange flame.  _Armour obtained: Mighty Hood_.  _Weapon obtained: Ogre Arms_.

Mary sighed, pulling her sheathed sword off her back; then a  **massive** shape appeared on her other arm, and everyone stumbled back at the sight of what looked like a  _wheel from her crawler-drawn chariot_.

"Good lady!" Acta exclaimed as Mary set the wheel down. "Is that a shield or a merry-go-round base?"

"You don't wanna stand on this thing," Mary argued, setting the sword over it; a flash wrapped her as her wheels, dress, and crown disappeared, lying on the shield's surface. Ram stepped up and tapped the dress first, causing it to vanish.  _Armour obtained: Roman Racer_. Then she tapped the shield - and to her surprise, the sword disappeared too as the dialogue box appeared.  _Weapon obtained: Joseph_.

"The sword and shield are one weapon?" Ram mused.

Mary didn't have the chance to respond before the last flame extinguished; a sudden sound like wind's bloody howling had everyone covering their ears, pulling well away from the auditorium. The stage began to sink in, and shattered into light just out of view, revealing a swirling pink void within. Then the innermost layer of seats similarly descended and shattered; and then the next innermost, and then the next. When the last layer of seats vanished, the sound stopped, and the group slowly stood upright as the five torches shimmered, and then broke apart.

"There it is," Gold mused. "The exit of  _OtherSelf Online_."

"Think we should round up the other players?" Dead inquired.

"I think they heard that on the top floor of the Spire," Nana insisted. "We should go in."

"Yeah," Stella agreed. "It's already waited long enough."

Weapons and armour were returned to their owners; then Rock pulled back and leapt in, falling spread-eagle like a BASE jump. The moment she descended past the level where the stage had been, her body turned into a bolt of black that shot down into the rift; Yew and Dead promptly followed suit, leaping in after her. Mary rolled forward, dashing across the air for a moment, then came to a halt above the center of the rift and let herself fall backward; Gold muttered something that sounded like "Show-off" and leapt forth, diving as though into water.

Nana took a deep breath and then charged forward, leaping as far forward as she could before the warp took her. Nico leapt the ledge and curled into a cannonball; Acta dashed off and twisted as she fell, waving to the others as she fell. Ram smiled, hooking her hands behind her as she turned to Ron and Stella. "You two don't take too long, will you?" she teased; then, as they both started to protest, she hopped back, arcing into a flip before vanishing into the rift.

Stella groaned. "Says the girl who had to have a counselor tell her what was going on," she muttered through her teeth.

"Come on," Ron insisted, making to step in. "Let's not keep them waiting."

He was caught by surprise when Stella's hand closed on his.

"Wait," she insisted. "Would you...?" She bit her lip awkwardly. "Would you mind... telling me your name?"

A small smile rose on his face. "S-Sure," he assured her. "I'm Takuu Kouta. And you?"

"Arata Kohata," she replied. "My friends call me Kohacchi."

She didn't let go of his hand, and he quickly realized what she intended; his grip reciprocated the notion, and the two of them leapt into the rift together.

* * *

This was a different sensation from the entrance to a goddess' domain. There, her momentum was maintained or possibly augmented. This time, the moment she hit the rift, everything seemed to go still; then, when it faded, Stella and Ron were moving forward, just slowly and  _just_ off the ground, leaving them stumbling slightly as they landed. The other four Beasts and the goddesses were standing there, and they quickly released one another's hands to prevent any more taunts - but it was quickly apparent that nobody had their attention on them.

After a moment, it was plain to see why. The area they stood upon looked like it was part of the Field of White - white stone extending in all directions, save for the bright pink rift behind them. But before them was an expansive forest of sakura in the peak of bloom, with a clear path through that led to a black stone archway.

Stella glanced around, worried. "This is..."

"...wrong," Ron concluded.

With a flash of light, Ogre Arms appeared withdrawn on Yew's shoulders, extending forward to cover her hands; and the ★rock Cannon appeared on Rock's arm. Mary drew Joseph's broadsword, causing the shield to appear in her hand; Gold drew her King Saw off her back, and Dead reached behind her to grasp the shaft of her Dead Scythe before holding it out at her side.

A heavy sigh sounded around them; and someone stepped out from behind a sakura tree.

"Shame on you, little beasties."

Stella stumbled back on seeing who stood there; a pale-skinned figure in a black dress of mourning, with silver hair dancing around her shoulders. "What...? You!?"

"Who is this?" Yew demanded.

"She's the one who told us about the death game on launch day," Stella replied. "I... I'm sorry, I can't remember your username."

"That's hardly your fault after a year," the woman replied. "This is just a proxy account, anyways. I borrowed it for the announcement." She turned her gaze on the Beasts. "But I must say, I'm rather disappointed in you Beasts. The grand quest of  _OtherSelf Online_ is to kill the goddesses of Otherworld. Not to make them part of your raid."

"You're insane," Ron snapped. "You can't seriously expect us to take another's life for the sake of some twisted quest."

The woman shook her head, coming to a stop in the center of the path. "Life survives at the cost of another," she reprimanded. "I'm not making this optional. You will kill the goddesses, or you will never leave Otherworld." She lashed her hand down, causing the admin menu to appear around her. "But I know it's unreasonable to ask you to do that at your level."

She tapped something on a panel at her side. Stella had only a glimpse of six yellow emblems in her HUD before her body stopped obeying her, and she and  **everyone there** began to fall, barely able to stop themselves from landing face-down. Another tap of the menu; then the label beside her HP bar reading  _Stella - Lv 87_ became  _Stella - Lv 255_. "Huh...?"

"What the...?" Ram's utterance told her that she wasn't the only one; the HUD only showed each player their own level. "Level... two hundred and fifty-!?"

"That's the cap in  _OtherSelf Online_ ," the woman in the black dress explained. "The devs wanted to make it so it would start lower, and raise over updates - but they'd never update a game during something like this, so my friends on the other side made sure it was at its maximum from the start. When you hit the cap, you get a stat boost equivalent to every previous level's bonus combined." She hummed for a moment, and then tapped something on her menu again; then Stella's status faded, and she found she was able to move again. "Stella, you earned  **your** weapons, so I leave the task to you."

Slowly, Arata got to her feet, finding everyone's gazes on her as the woman dismissed her menu; Mato had a pleading look in her eyes. "Don't..."

"Kill the goddesses of Otherworld. Earn your freedom, and that of the remaining five thousand and seventy-four players of  _OtherSelf Online_."

Her hand was shaking as she reached for her Seven-Shots, slowly drawing it out of its holster. The blades on the greaves of her Render's Wear manifested, and the crown of blue appeared around her head as she slowly closed her left hand around her right, trying to stop the weapon from shaking as she slowly raised it towards Mato.

A single deep breath.

Then she raised the gun towards the woman in the black dress and pulled the trigger - and a bombardment of seven bullets flew from the barrel, each slamming into the woman and leaving her stumbling as an HP bar appeared above her, rapidly decreasing into the pale zone. Arata's left hand pulled off her weapon and lashed down to invoke her own menu, and with fast, practiced movements she grabbed an area-effect status crystal and whispered the invocation. The statuses of the other Beasts and the goddesses cleared, and as they started to rise Arata grabbed her Beast Blade, causing the discs of her feet to become spinning sawblades as she stormed to the front of the group.

"I would sooner bury that avatar under one of these trees!"

The woman stood upright, seething, as her HP bar vanished in the absence of any further damage. "Fine," she snapped. "Have it your way."

She closed her eyes.

" **System login. User ID: White!** "

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, he's gonna kill me for calling Mary's weapon 'Joseph'.


	36. Cherry Blossom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so apparently giving Mary's weapon the name "Joseph" was just unreasonably funny, so I'm still alive.
> 
> Also, found a good playthrough of B★RS The Game, so sorry this took a while. That being said, nothing about my plans has been changed by my watching, except for maybe some fight choreography. What I said back in Chapter 1 still applies; the names and appearances I take from the game will NOT be matched to their personalities, necessarily, and nothing I do for the rest of this fic was not already intended.

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: None

Nana  
Armour: Grey Mail  
Weapon: Blade Claw  
Weapon: Blade Claw  
Garb: None

Ron  
Armour: Serpentounge  
Weapon: Ouroboros  
Weapon: Fang Knife  
Garb: None

Acta  
Armour: Mou Ikai  
Weapon: Rabbit Hammer  
Weapon: 21 Shield  
Garb: None

Nico  
Armour: Black Rabbit  
Weapon: Edged Knuckles  
Garb: None

Ram  
Armour: Princess Star  
Weapon: Sword of the Brave  
Weapon: Black Shield  
Garb: None

 **Login_::**  
account:  
[*****]  
password:  
[************]

A surge of force ripped out around the woman in black at she roared, and that power had everyone going for their weapons. Her dress shifted, becoming a long black cloak similar to - but distinct from - an Other Cloak; open at the front, possessing no hood instead but a long white cape. Her silver hair darkened to brown, elongating until it hung at her waist level, and her skin darkened just a shade so that she was not pale, but nor was she tanned - the hues of a woman who spent her time at a desk... or under a NervGear.

Her eyes snapped open, steely grey.

"No way..."  Mato raised her cannon. "Jonzen Black!?"

"Not possible," Arata gasped. "The beta testers were one thing, but Black was a developer!"

"She was in  _Otherworld_  with us during the crash," Yuu corrected. "She was in the same room. But why are you  _here!?_ "

Black shook her head. "This is not what I wanted," she reprimanded. "I wanted you five to  **crush**   _OtherSelf Online_ , or die trying. But here you've gone and ruined the whole sytem."

"Why!?" Yomi demanded. "Why would you ask us to kill ten thousand people!?"

"I had an intention," Black replied; and her voice had gone dark. "Create a world - an _Otherworld_ \- for me and ten thousand fortunate souls. A game worth winning. A place where memories could be made, where love and war would be no less than they were outside. A world that I could rule over as its goddess." She shook her head. "For a year I toiled, to create an engine that could sustain such a world. I wanted to be sure that it would work - so I asked five individuals who I knew could ensure the world turned."

She aimed a finger at Kagari. "Someone who could ensure the body would move."

Then she turned it to Saya. "Someone to make sure the mind would keep up with it."

And then to Yuu. "Someone who could see that every blow would land."

To Yomi. "Someone to guarantee that the world was just as flexible and precise as ours."

Finally to Mato. "And someone holding them all together through thick and thin."

Black let her finger fall. "For fourty-five days, we toiled, and my  _Otherworld_ turned. And then, one day, it all ended. Everything was torn apart, save for six isolated pieces that had never been put together in the first place. I couldn't do anything but assure them each that the others were alive. And thirty-six hours later, I couldn't even do that!" Her other hand raised to the side of her head, as though clutching a helmet. "I was ripped from my  _Otherworld_ , my link shattered. We were all thought dead - the building rent by fire, charred bodies lying in the room where we had been, with NervGears that forged our user information to tell that world we were gone!" Her hand fell. "The people who could not accept my vision had staged an incident to kill us all, and only swift action by the one I trusted prevented it from falling apart. And my world... my  _Otherworld_... had been cast aside as a foolish dream.

"They took our hard work, and intended to turn it into a mockery of my vision. I would not accept that. And so I, and the few who would side with me, decided we would crush their creation as they had crushed mine. If I could not be the goddess of my  _Otherworld_ , I would lead the pantheon that brought  _OtherSelf Online_ to its  **knees!** And if we should be killed in our efforts, I would welcome that twilight and  _die with my visions!_ "

"You...?" Kagari's grip twisted on her broadsword. "You knew? You knew those were real people, and you told us to kill them!?"

Black's lips twisted into a smile. "You relished in it. Whether grounds of fear, an army of the dead, or merciless combat, you all relished in it. You were goddesses feared."

Wheels skidded against the ground, and none of them could stop Kagari before she charged forward with shield before her, sword raised at her side. " _ **Go away!**_ "

A scoff broke through Black's lips; she locked her gaze on her attacker, letting her head fall slightly... and an instant before the blade fell, something appeared on her right eye.

It was a flame in bloody crimson.

Everyone started at that flame burned; White pulled just to the side, and Mary's blade skimmed across her cheek - not with the streak of red that marked HP damage, but with a flash of white that denied it even the slightest penetration. She quickly brought her knee up and drove it into Mary's stomach, and though neither did that deal damage - for even  _Otherworld_ had prevented a martial blow from harming without a martial weapon - it had enough force behind it to send the yellow goddess flying back the way she came, landing before her friends as White twisted into a spin, standing tall to face them once again.

"But if you are goddesses, than I am a **titan**."

Light wrapped her cloak; when it faded, the garment had all but vanished, leaving her clad barely in white - short shorts, thigh-high boots, detached sleeves held on her arms by narrow bands, and a scant bra to preserve her modesty. A similar flash wrapped her cape, and it elongated to either side of her; a pair of mechanical black lengths held to spiked pauldrons upon her shoulders, each holding four white blades whose shape invoked wings. A third shine wrapped her hair, raising it into long twintails; when it could be seen again, it too had been turned to stark white.

The dark red flame in her right eye continued to burn, and she lashed her hands out as her feet lifted off the ground.

Ron reacted first; he drew one of his snake-fang edges, threw it at White, and hurled his chakram after it. White only swept her hand forward, catching the knife between two fingers; then she leaned back, letting the throwing weapon fly over her head. Stella quickly raised her Seven-Shots and fired it as she was rising... but the bullets collided with bright flashes, and though she stumbled back from the blows, giving the chakram an opportunity to return to its owner, no HP bar appeared to show she had taken damage.

Arata's heart sank. "Run."

White lashed her hand down, invoking the multilayered GM's menu. "That's enough of that!"

The group of eleven began to run back towards the rift they had come from - but a change in Stella's HUD drove her to worry, for  _Stella - Lv 255_ had become  _Stella - Lv 1_. She glanced back to see White flipping the knife in hand; then she drew it back and hurled it forward, leaving it to fly straight into Acta's leg. One moment, her HP bar was full; the next fragment of a second, it was  **empty** , and she fell to the ground as her body began to shimmer.

Nico halted a moment from the rift as she shattered, a black grave marker appearing where she had fallen. "Acta!"

Nobody had so much as the opportunity to open their menu before White vanished, reappearing in the same instant over Acta's grave; then she drove her foot into the top of the marker, and the writing that showed  _Revive by - 12:59_ turned to  _Revive by - EXPIRED_ an instant before the  **grave itself** shimmered and shattered just as she had.

" ** _ACTA!_** "

Ram didn't have the chance to stop him from going back; by one second she was the last to hit the rift, and her arm was outstretched towards him to drag him after her as she was taken from White's domain - leaving Nico standing before the final opponent alone.

* * *

Ten players landed in the Field of White, sent straight to the ridge by the rift around it. Yew was the only one who managed to stay on her feet completely; most of the others fell to one or both knees, and Ram had been mid-turn when she hit the transport, causing her to lose balance and fall to the ground entirely.

"What happened?" Rock gasped. "It shouldn't have been that fast... Even from a GM, it shouldn't have killed her that fast. What happened?"

"She nerfed us," Nana forced. "She was able to push us to the level cap... she was capable of taking it away. We're all at Level 1 again. A year of working on our way out of this stupid game... all wasted!"

Stella grit her teeth. "Why?" she growled. "Why would she do that? Why would she give me the power to kill you if she wanted  _OSO_ destroyed?"

Gold shook her head. "She wanted an excuse to do it," she muttered. "If you killed any of us, she would have the perfect excuse to kill you all. And anyone else who made it to the exit."

"This isn't any better," Yew spat, forcing herself to her feet and turning around. "She's gonna come out-"

"No, she's not." Mary's utterance drew her attention. "That archway, through the sakura... That's the way out of  _OtherSelf_. That's the  **only** way out of  _OtherSelf_. Any player who wants to leave the game goes through her." Her gaze fell. "Including us."

"How can we get through that?" Dead sounded terrified. "She's using the  _Otherworld_ system, just like we are. And I'll bet anything that she has dominance in that domain. And when we struck her, she... she didn't even feel that."

Ron's gaze shot up. "She  **did** feel that," he exclaimed. "When Stella shot her, it hit her. It didn't  **hurt** her... but it did hit her."

"The safe zone engine," Stella realized. "She's... she's registered her avatar as a safe zone. But she's not an immortal object - the physics engine still runs."

Gold turned to her. "We can move her?"

"We can  _knock her out_."

"But... that doesn't solve the problem," Ram reminded them. "There are still five thousand players who need to get out of this game. If we knock her unconscious, it might give us sixty seconds, tops - enough time for  **us** to get through. Not for everyone."

Rock turned to Dead. "You remember the server crash?" she asked.

"Of course I remember the server crash," Dead insisted, "what about it?"

"What did it feel like, before we were transported?" Rock argued.

"It was... terrible," Dead admitted. "My body didn't even move. My head wasn't even working straight until I was in my domain. It was like..." Her gaze shot up. "Wait..."

Yew turned on her. "Tell me you're not thinking of..."

Rock shook her head. "I don't like it either, but do you have a better idea?"

Nana glanced between them. "What are you thinking?"

* * *

"So, I come out of the Spire, and this guy comes around the corner and puts a  _gun to my head_."

A storyteller sitting near the inn field of the Eternal Stadium earned a laugh from her listeners; it was almost sunset, and her entire guild had gathered for a meeting and decided to stick around. "Seriously?" one player asked.

"Yeah, so I turn to the guy and I ask him, setting aside the fact that you can't one-shot anybody with a pistol within twenty levels, do you really think you can stick somebody up in a  _safe zone?_ " Her party laughed as she shook her head. "Let me tell you, if I'd gotten a face like that off a..."

She fell quiet when she saw something flying low nearby - it looked like a bird, but  _OSO_ didn't have birds that dark that weren't monsters. And it wasn't just one - as she got a closer look, she realized it was a whole flock of what looked like black-feathered  **doves**. Most of them spread out around the area - after a moment, it was clear that there was one going towards every player in the Stadium - but a group hovered above the guild, and something white fell from their beaks, landing before each player and glowing slightly.

"What is this?" she murmured, reaching down to pick it up. "Some kind of event...?"

A prompt button appeared beneath her finger as she touched it, and the glowing item vanished as a dialogue box appeared before her.

 _The five flames of the goddesses have been extinguished; but a new obstacle now stands in our way._  
_If you wish to be freed from OtherSelf Online, come to the plaza in the Town of Endings where players first spawned, at noon tomorrow._

* * *

"I wasn't sure that was going to work."

Dead's utterance at the sight of a large crowd in the Town of Endings did little to quell Rock's worry. The five goddesses had disguised themselves with the use of Other Cloaks and some different hairstyles, but Rock was still worried someone was going to show up and try to kill them. "Yeah, well, getting them here was the easy part." Warily, Rock made her way to a fountain in the center of the plaza; a Pink Fever and Red Rage were already in her hands, and once she was on the fountain ridge she hurled the bomb skyward and fired at it to set it off. The blast was enough to get peoples' attention, and Rock quickly spoke up before anyone could start talking again.

"H-Hello!" Her voice didn't have as much dominance to it as she hoped, but _Otherworld_ was making sure everyone could hear here, and so she tried to stop herself from hesitating. "I... My name is Rock. And I'm... kind of the one who sent that message. We... My friends and I have... We went across the Field of White, and the monsters are... they're gone. The torches in the middle are all gone, there's no flames. And where the auditorium used to be is... there's a giant hole. Kind of. It's a portal. It goes to this forest, and... and in that forest is the way out of this game.

"But there's... there's another goddess in that forest. She's strong. Stronger than the others. I bet she could take them all out in one hit if it was possible. There's... There is some good news, though. We don't have to kill the goddess to get out! We just need to get past her. But that's... that's not going to be easy. My... We think we've found a way to keep the goddess busy. But it's not going to last long. And I'm pretty sure it's only going to work once. So we can't be selfish and take it for ourselves. It has to be everyone. All of us.

"That's... That's risky. I know it is. Five thousand of us, is... that's going to take a bit of time. We can't... we can't make sure everyone will get through in the time we have. But the alternative is staying in  _OtherSelf Online_  for... another year. Another three years. Another  _five_ years. I don't want that. I don't want  _anybody_ to have to take that. So I'm going to take this risk. But I... I'm not going to do it for me. I'm not going to do it if I'm the only one doing it. I can't do that. I can't let people be hurt like that. So I... I want to make sure I'm not the only one doing it."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"If anybody... If anyone here wants to get out of this, if there's  **anyone** willing to take that risk... Then stomp, and shout 'Aye'!"

One split second of silence was one split second too long; Stella slammed her foot to the ground and raised her Beast Blade skyward, shouting, "Aye!"

The rest of the Beasts stomped their feet, raising their own weapons with yells of "Aye!" - and across the crowd, the entire surviving population of  _OtherSelf Online_  did the same.

A small smile rose on Mato's face when they quieted down. "Me and my friends are gonna go to the Field. Once everyone's there, we're going to go in, and keep the goddess busy. The  **moment** she's occupied, someone's going to come out and tell you all to move. And you  **move!** You start moving, and you don't stop. You leap into the portal, and once you're on the other side, you  **run** like..."

Briefly, she fell quiet; and when she finished, her voice was all the stronger.

"...You run like Black Rock Shooter is trying to gun you down."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've heard rumors that there are certain famous players in online PvP games whose very presence makes people forfeit, and they'll actually use proxy accounts and risk punishment from the game's company for sockpuppeting like that prince from A Knight's Tale. Imagine what that'd be like if SAO was PvP.


	37. White Rock Shooter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to some poorly-clicked links, I knew about White Rock Shooter before I started writing, and intended this from the start. That being said, I'm glad I didn't specifically plan the fight scene, because her top-of-page image on the wiki doesn't show any weapons, so I thought at the time that it would be a mirror match.

Stella  
Armour: Render's Wear  
Weapon: Seven-Shots  
Weapon: Beast Blade  
Garb: None

Nana  
Armour: Grey Mail  
Weapon: Blade Claw  
Weapon: Blade Claw  
Garb: None

Ron  
Armour: Serpentongue  
Weapon: Ouroboros  
Weapon: Fang Knife  
Garb: None

Ram  
Armour: Princess Star  
Weapon: Sword of the Brave  
Weapon: Black Shield  
Garb: None

"There we go. They're coming."

The crowd of five thousand was approaching from across the Field of White as the nine of them - Stella, Nana, Ron, Ram, Rock, Dead, Gold, Yew, and Mary - waited at the edge of White's domain. Rock nodded at her call, turning to the rift. "Right, then. Once they're all here."

It didn't take long for the players to reach the portal after that; a few minutes after the first ones arrived, the crowd began to spread out so that it was circling the ridge, remaining a good few paces away so Rock's party had room.  _Otherworld_ told her when the crowd was ending, and once they were all there, she spoke up again.

"Alright," she called. "The nine of us are going to jump in two groups. Five to get the her attention, then four more later once it's on us. As soon as she's occupied, someone's gonna come out and tell you, and then all of you  **run**. We nine go through the exit  _last_. Got it?"

" **Got it!** " echoed across the crowd.

"Then let's go wreck this witch."

She turned, as did the other goddesses, and they all leapt in at once.

* * *

Dead landed first, her body with a slight twist; with a flash, her cloak vanished to be replaced by her Reaper's Dress, and she swung her hand out as her Dead Scythe appeared in her grip. Mary emerged next, changing into her Roman Racer before she hit the ground; once she made contact, she skidded forward slightly before drawing Joseph's sword and causing the shield to appear in her other hand. Yew landed at her side, landing with a punch into the ground; once her momentum faded, her Mighty Hood replaced her cloak, and as she rose her Ogre Arms appeared to make sure she still had one fist to the earth. Gold emerged on Dead's other side, landing on one knee with both hands low; then her Queen's Greaves appeared around her, and she got to her feet and held one hand aside to seize her King Saw.

Rock leapt out with a flip, having changed into her Shooter's Jacket a moment before she hit the portal; she landed with legs parted and one palm pressed to the earth, and on the other arm appeared her ★rock Cannon.

"White, come out!"

There were no slow steps from through the sakura as there had been before; suddenly, with a blur of movement, White stood there- no,  _hovered_ there before the five of them, her bladed wings suspended at her sides. Rock stood tall, a Black Blade appearing in her left hand, as she received the titan's gaze.

"So, then..." Jonzen's lips curled. "Have you changed your minds?"

"You could say that," Rock confirmed. "You were right - we did relish in battle. When the bombardment of enemies slowed to a stop, I took pride in taking out every last one myself." She shook her head. "That was wrong. Enjoying the fight like that. Combat is not something to be enjoyed. It's a means to an end - and a last resort what's more."

She raised her ★rock Cannon, aiming the RF barrel at White.

"But you've made it clear you're not going to stop. So I've changed my mind. I'm not going to waste time talking you down."

A smirk rose on White's face as she closed her eyes. "This is precisely the game I chose to play," she mused. "All the players of  _Otherworld_ against the one who created it. They ruined my vision... but it seems they couldn't stop the finale from taking place."

Rock shook her head. "No," she denied. "You want to kill  _OtherSelf Online_. Ten thousand people who had nothing to do with that destruction. Innocents who just so happened to get the game on the day it came out. They've done nothing to deserve your punishment. If you want to kill them... Then  **we** are otherselves, no different from them."

"You lie," White growled. "You fight me with  _Otherworld_. You can't  **not**. Your avatars identify as  _Otherworld_ players. You're not using your equipment like you claimed it from the goddesses. You're using it as something you made, determined by your level. You're using it the same way you used it to kill them! You **are**  goddesses!"

"Then we will destroy the titan that brought us into this world," Rock proclaimed.

White seethed, her wings flexing. "You can try."

A pale blue flame ignited in Rock's left eye.

A dark red flame ignited in White's right.

Rock moved first, three shots flying from her ★rock Cannon before she leapt forward with her Black Blade raised. White crossed her blades before her, the shots colliding ineffectively; then, when Rock was about to strike her, she strafed aside. Mary was already in front of her, thrusting the flat of Joseph's shield towards her; when it collided with White's left wing, the spikes on its surface deployed, and she twisted the shield to entangle the arm the blades were held upon. Rock swung her cannon in LNC mode, beating the other wing back when it tried to strike Mary from the side; then Yew was up close, punching the blades with one Ogre Arm and then seizing it in the other to drag it back. Gold charged forward at the exposed titan, flying into a dive with her King Saw extended; when it collided with White's stomach with a flash, she nearly doubled over, but her hands managed to close on the flat of the blade to stop it.

Dead quickly leapt above while her hands were occupied, and she raised her Dead Scythe with intention to drive it into White's temple.

Then, suddenly, White wasn't there; Gold tumbled with nothing holding her King Saw, and it was nearly knocked out of her hands when the Dead Scythe collided with it - and Dead collided with Gold. Yew and Mary tumbled to the sides when the wings stopped holding against their weapons, and Rock glanced around, searching, before seeing White hovering before the archway with a threatening giggle.

She soared towards them, her wings raising to her sides so the blades looked like threatening claws; Rock quickly charged forward to meet her, turning her Black Blade to a reverse grip. One wing collided with the sword, locking three blades and keeping the fourth too far to strike her; the other wing slammed into her ★rock Cannon, its crushing build long enough to stop them all. Mary was rolling up behind her; Rock quickly leapt into the air, dragging White's wings over her head, and Joseph's shield slammed into her body, the spikes ripping flashes all across her and sending her reeling back far enough to part her blades from Rock's. Dead raised her empty hand, invoking a pair of massive black skulls to seize the goddess' wings between their teeth; as they held the blades back, Yew charged forward, slamming the palms of her Ogre Arms together around White's head. White dropped to the ground, stumbling and visibly dazed.

Dead's skulls held her in place as Gold charged in and she drew back her King Saw, preparing to run the serrated edge across White's forehead.

White vanished an instant before the connection, leaving Gold swinging at air; Dead's skulls reeled in the air and vanished as she and the others turned around. The titan was standing where they had been a moment before, and she raised her hands to her head and pressed her palms into her ears a couple of times; then she raised her gaze to them before lifting of the ground with a shake of her head.

Rock raised her cannon in MIS mode, firing two shots that twisted through the air to strike from different angles as Gold and Dead charged forward. White's wings lashed through the homing shots as they were approaching; one wing was met on the King Saw, and one on the Dead Scythe as Mary rolled forward. White tried to kick at her before she could connect, but Mary only slammed Joseph's shield into the ground to give it leverage; the kick deployed the spikes on the shield's surface, and she vaulted over the plate and slammed the broadsword into White's stomach. The blow had her doubling over, and Yew quickly leapt atop the shield, interlocking the fingers of her Ogre Arms as she released her footing to bring them down on the titan's head.

Once again did White vanish before the blow could connect. Her swing passed through the air and collided with the ground, and Mary reclaimed her shield as everyone's gaze went back to the portal. The titan laughed, her hair flailing about at her sides as her wings flexed. "Come on," she taunted. "Is that all an otherself can do?"

The ★rock Cannon was swept forward as Rock closed her unlit eye. "We haven't started showing you yet."

White scoffed. "What more can you possibly-"

"Doink!"

A yell ripped through White's lips mid-phrase as something collided with the back of her neck - Ram's longsword, raised to a sharp thrust. She quickly raised her shield to meet the bladed wing that came swinging at her as White turned around; the shield stopped the blades from striking her, but at her level she couldn't stop from flying to the side. Nana, behind her, had merely ducked, and as soon as the wing was over her she crossed her arms and slashed her jagged swords across White's forehead, the serrated edges at the tips of the blades rattling against her temples through the flashes and leaving her reeling. Her feet met the ground, and Nana leapt aside as Ron charged forward; his ringed-serpent chakram was just wide enough for him to slam it down over White's head, trapping it in place as a constant blow upon her. Once it was there, he stepped aside, and Stella raised her Seven-Shots, pulling the trigger to unleash a barrage about to slam into the titan's head.

Terror wrought her when White raised her hand, and the bullets halted. They then fell to the ground as her wings move, striking the chakram from her head, and it clattered to the ground as she raised her gaze again, the crimson flame in her eye burning wider and higher.

"You... little...  _shits!_ " Her voice was raging with fury as she lifted off the ground again. "You are worthless! You have _no place_  in this domain! You have not the strength to kill the goddesses! You have no the strength to so much as  **hurt** me! I  **want** to be hurt!"

A hand closed on White's shoulder; she turned to find her red flame clashing with a blue one, such that the fire seemed to be purple for an instant.

" **Then _I_ will hurt you.** "

Something moved on Rock's right arm, and for a moment the onlookers thought it was the ★rock Cannon - but it wasn't. Its black was scattered with silver as though a coat of paint had been tarnished, and a chain trailed from the base and hooked to a pauldron on Rock's opposite shoulder. Its barrels were not rotating, or a single edge, but six narrow lengths emerging a third a way up its length; the remainder was not a crushing weapon, but a sharp and jagged  _blade_ designed to cut as well as crush.

The blow collided with White's stomach, leaving her doubling over - but she didn't recoil fast enough to prevent the blade from slicing across her forehead in the process. She stumbled, dazed, and goddesses moved; Dead created a storm of chains that curled around the titan, Gold invoked a crashing wave to hinder her movement, Yew summoned volcanic stone to bombard her from behind, and Rock's cannon lance fired to keep her busy.

Mary was about to join in the bombardment when she saw the petals of the sakura trees moving.

"No,  _look out!_ "

White vanished from the bombardments, leaving them all breaking through one another; everyone turned as the titan reappeared before the gate. The petals of the thousand sakura all flowed towards her, swirling about her like a storm. Her wings moved, and the petals began to fly forward - Yew, who had been charging the titan as the petals moved, suddenly found herself bombarded, and her orange HP bar began to whittle as they soared forward, individually weak but uncountably numerous.

Mary glanced back at the Beasts, gathered before the rift - at Level 1, a single blow from the titan would kill them.

She rolled towards them as fast as her wheels would take her, and as the storm began to near them she slammed Joeseph's shield into the ground. The bombardment collided with it, but refused to harm it; it was wide enough to cover the four Beasts, the petals that passed it not faltering their course before they shattered into light as they crossed the rift's boundary.

As soon as the storm faded, Mary acted; a flash of light extended from the back of the shield, forming a frame upon which she found herself seated; and then it expanded when it was an equal length on either side of her, and formed another, identical shape. The two wheels - one solid, one light - turned against the earth in opposite directions, rotating so Mary faced forward as the light continued ahead of her. Two large handles to direct it; supports to hold it to something before her; a massive body in two segments; eight jagged legs that ended in threatening spikes, and a molded face on the fore. The light then spread across the solid wheel, wrapping it in light as well; and then the light parted, revealing the crawler stood in bright gold.

"Go  _away_."

Her hands moved upon the controls, and the crawler charged forward, dashing towards White. A blow from her wings clattered ineffectively - for the bronze chariot, destroyed in her domain, had been equal parts defender and strike, but this gold machine was an entirely offensive function whose guard was only a side effect of its size. Once White had been seized on the head, Mary directed it to slam through the trees, driving her into the trunks in an effort to knock her out.

Rock quickly dashed up to the Beasts, cannon lance at her side. "Are you all still alright?"

Stella had greater concern. "I think so, but why isn't she going down? She shouldn't still be awake after that much!"

Nana knuckled her forehead. "Stupid," she muttered. "I'm so stupid! The physics engine still runs, but there's no lasting effects from a blunt-force blow without a physical body! If you can't knock her out with a single hit, then repeated blows don't do anything!"

Ram swore. "Just when I thought we could do this...! So much for strength in numbers!"

"Strength  **is** numbers."

Ron's utterance drew everyone's attention; he glanced back at the rift and then turned back. "Rock, how does  _Otherworld_ let you create things?"

"I-It depends our level," Rock stumbled. "As long as any players we're affecting aren't actively stopping us. Why?"

"There are five thousand players dead," Ron said quickly, "but their avatar data is still around - it has to be for their graves to say anything. If you make  _Otherworld_ let you tap into that..."

"It would give you an effective level in the ten thousands," Nana realized.

The weapon on Rock's arm vanished, and she turned to the forest where the chariot was still slamming the titan through. "Mary! Get her back here!"

Mary heard; she quickly directed her crawler to turn around, driving White through the trees. As Nana had observed, the repeated blows weren't enough to knock her out without any effects from one blow lasting to the next, but it was still enough to stop her from retaliating as she continued to drive. The other three goddesses charged towards Rock, and she held a hand forward, willing  _Otherworld_ to work.

Light surged out of the ground, in a massive line before Rock... and it started to  _rise_ , forming a wall of light. As it grew, beams of light began to lash forward, impaling themselves in the ground as supports. The crawler came to a halt in the clear path, throwing White from the head; Mary saw what Rock was doing and knew she didn't want to be in front of it, letting the crawler fall and leaping skyward. She hoped that she would fly faster than the wall was growing, but her worry was in vain; she crested the top as its form stopped expanding, and quickly landed beside the other goddesses.

White got to her feet as the light faded - and terror wrought her when she saw a massive  **wall** of ★rock Cannons standing between her and the rift to  _OtherSelfOnline_.

Rock drove her hand into the nearest cannon's mounting port; in her eyes only, it became transparent, letting her see what lay beyond, and the moment her eyes focused on White, the entire wall shifted so that each cannon was individually aimed at her temple.

"Gun. Shot."

From every barrel emerged a blast of light - one for every dead player in  _OtherSelf Online_. Those lights converged into a single blast, not many blows striking the same point, but all of them becoming  **one** blow; it only took a half-second between the nearest cannon's light reaching that point and the furthest cannon's light joining it, and the shot slammed into White's forehead - and consciousness left her.

Before she had even hit the ground, the wall of cannons began to shimmer away, and Rock yelled, "Now!"

The other goddesses acted, dashing through the vanishing manifestation; this time, their efforts would not be interrupted. Dead wrapped the titan's body in black chains, binding every part of her body to every other part. Mary's crawler reappeared, and from the doll's maw emerged massive macarons that slammed into the titan's head and consumed her in pasty. Yew slammed her hands to the ground, and burning waves began to emerge, converging around the goddess entire; then Gold swung her blade, and a wave of water washed over the lava to cool it into immoveable stone.

Then the cannons shattered, and Rock swept her arm over her head and swung it down - and the cocoon that the titan had once been consumed in sunk into the ground.

The flame in her left eye went out, and with a sigh, she fell to her knees, panting. "There.... She's... done."

Ram glanced at them. "Are you sure?"

"She's completely unable to move with her body surrounded in solids," Nana insisted. "Assuming the physics engine even lets her regain consciousness like that, she'll have no way of even registering she's awake. Get their attention!"

Without another word, Ram dashed into the rift to head back to the Field of White; then Rock turned to the others. "You should go."

"Not a chance," Stella insisted. "If you're going to be the last ones to leave, then we'll bring up the rear of  _OSO_ 's players."

"You should at least get clear of the rift," Mary warned, her crawler vanishing again.

"That goes double for you guys," Ron reprimanded, "you still look like goddesses."

The eight of them quickly retreated between the trees of the sakura forest; then the crowd of otherselves emerged from the portal, nobody even paying the trees any mind before they crossed the gate - and as every avatar crossed the gate, their body vanished.

 _OtherSelf Online_ had been cleared.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, technically I planned the final blow in that fight scene, but that doesn't count.


	38. Out of the Otherworld

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've seen SAO enough times that I could probably give you every plot point to the end of Mother's Rosario by heart, but I had to turn on Episode 14 for some details and now I really need to see the anime again.
> 
> I haven't seen Ordinal Scale yet, and that's a pain in the ass. If my sources are correct, that got a North American release in March 2017, which makes it kind of aggravating that it's not where I can see it yet (aka Netflix).

Every minute the players of _OtherSelf Online_ came pouring across the sakura forest, the goddesses prayed that White would not emerge. Eventually, however, the last one came through; Ram leapt out of the portal and glanced around, and a watching Stella quickly stepped forward, prompting the others to do the same.

"That was the last one," Ram assured them. "Everyone who was on the Field of White is through."

"So, there's no more players in  _OSO_?" Ron mused,

"Well... no more that are willing to leave," Ram admitted.

Gold sighed. "We can't change anything about that."

Ram nodded. "Point. See you on the other side!"

Nobody had the chance to respond before she started towards the gate; as soon as she was through, her avatar vanished.

Nana scoffed. "She just runs straight out as without sticking around for us?" she muttered.

"Are you  _going_ to stick around for us?" Yuu argued.

"You don't want me to?" Nana asked.

"I'd rather not change this domain while  _OtherSelf_ players are still around," Mato admitted.

"...I guess that makes sense," Nana admitted. "Alright."

She started towards the gate; and once she was through, Arata turned to the others. "You know there's still something we need to do, right?"

Kagari blinked. "What?"

"Remember what she said?" Takuu observed. "You're all presumed dead in the real world - bodies confirmed."

Mato's eyes widened. "Right, dammit. We can't just..."

Saya spoke up. "I know some people who might be able to-"

"No," Arata interrupted. "Anybody you guys used to know won't believe you if you tell them."

"We call emergency services, then," Yomi insisted. "They'd believe us, wouldn't they?"

Yuu sighed. "There are some people on emergency services who think anyone's gonna call them for a prank," she muttered.

Takuu spoke up. "My dad works with the police," he insisted. "We live, like, three blocks from Shattered Star headquarters. You've been online since the explosion, right? They couldn't have gotten you out of the city without raising suspicion or making your connection spotty. Here, call his number..."

Kagri nodded. "Will do. Thanks."

At that, Arata and Takuu took off towards the gate; Mato noticed with a smirk that their hands were closed on one another's until their avatars vanished. Once they were through, Yomi turned to Mato. "Are you really planning on changing anything here?"

"Just a message in case she gets out," Mato replied. "And... I didn't want to leave while there were any _OtherSelf_ players behind me. Let's get closer first."

Once they were at the edge of the gate,  _Otherworld_ changed the domain without Jonzen Black's command to stop them; the sakura trees vanished, and upon the white surface that remained, Mato carved her message. Once it was complete, the five of them departed, leaving it for their attacker to read.

_The Otherworld has faded away  
Now comes a new dawn_

* * *

Mato opened her eyes.

She was lying on a bed in a dimly lit room, with sunset streaming in through a nearby window. Her surroundings were astonishingly sterile; after a moment, she realized that her bed was surrounded by medical equipment.

She was in a hospital.

...How had she ended up in a hospital, if she had been presumed dead?

A hand was raised before her, skinny and pale, atrophied and malnourished. Slowly, she reached for her head, and it connected with something. Her NervGear. She pulled herself to sit upright, then set both hands on the device and pulled it off her head - and what had formerly been two short twintails trailed long behind her, for her hair had grown a surprising amount in three years under a NervGear. She held the device before her; the surface was scratched and marred, such that the logo on the front was almost indecipherable, and the light casings on the sides were cracked. After a moment, she set the device down beside her and dragged her legs off the bed.

Pins and needles ripped through her body when she tried to rise, and gasp broke through her lips. She couldn't stand. Her body wouldn't support her. An IV drip was sitting beside the bed, and one hand closed on it, rolling it close enough that she could grasp it in both hands; then, using her arms as well as her legs, she tried to rise again. The pain trembled through her again - but this time, it wasn't enough to stop her entirely.

"...Come on, Mato..." Her voice cracked as she spoke to herself; her real body hadn't spoken in years. "Move your feet..."

She stepped away from the bed, her entire body trembling; a pulling at her skin caused her to glance back as a heartbeat monitor began to flatline. Several electrodes, formerly connected to her body, had fallen away. She put them out of her mind, turning back and stepping out, trying to move - trying to find out where she was.

The door opened ahead of her, and someone stepped inside; a woman in a medical uniform. "What... Miss Kuroi?"

"You kn...?" Mato shook her head. "Where am I? I need a phone."

The nurse stepped forward. "Miss, please, it's alright. You and your friends are safe in-"

"No, you don't understand," Mato insisted. "I  **need** to make a call. I know who's responsible for  _OtherSelf_."

Her words had a noticeable effect on the nurse. "Who?"

"Jonzen Black."

* * *

The goddess' imprisonment had stopped White from acting for longer than they had anticipated; by the time she was able to log out, the authorities had been informed, and her NervGear had been traced. Beyond the first day, Jonzen Black had lied about being unable to log out during the time that the other five testers of  _Otherworld_ had been trapped. In the real world, she was presumed dead, and had assumed a false identity to enlist her 'Whites' to assist her; in _Otherworld_ , she had been only logging in daily to maintain the deception.

The one responsible for saving the testers of  _Otherworld_ was Viola Grey - Black's closest ally in the development process, and the father of Nana Grey (user ID: Nana). He had forcibly disconnected the players' NervGears such that they would automatically log out when their power was depleted; Black, who had a tendency to only charge her device irregularly, had been the first one to lose battery power. However, Grey had not been complicit in the  _OtherSelf Online_ incident, and was not aware that she had forcibly trapped the other testers; upon being informed, Grey had not hesitated to give Black's location to the authorities.

Come the end of  _OtherSelf Online_ , the five thousand one hundred and twenty-eight players still alive underwent physical rehabilitation. The NervGear became discontinued, to prevent any similar threats to its users; in the span of two months, the company developed a successor known as the AmuSphere, which sacrificed the completion of the NervGear's full-dive immersion in exchange for using a much safer scan that could not bring harm to its users.

Even the most aesthetically devoted full-divers had no complaints.

Once their physical conditions were restored, those players of  _OtherSelf Online_  still of education age where admitted to a specialty school - both to prevent ostracization from their peers, and so that they could be carefully monitored to ensure their mental health.

* * *

"Over here!"

Nana waved back to them as she approached; Mato, Yomi, Yuu, and Kagari were all seated at a table in the middle of the school garden. "Hey, you guys," she greeted. "Have you seen Ste- I mean, Arata?"

"Yeah," Kagari confirmed, "she's-"

"We're not telling you where Kohacchi is," Mato interrupted.

"Huh?" Nana was confused by the conflicting speakers. "Why not?"

"We're not telling you where Takuu is, either," Yuu pointed out.

Nana sighed. "I guess that would make sense..."

Kagari huffed as she sat down. "Why did you have to  **tell** her that?" she muttered.

"Oh, hush," Yomi insisted - although there was a smile on her face that implied she had been about to stand by and let it happen.

"So," Nana asked, "how's Saya been?"

"She's doing alright," Mato replied. " _Otherworld_ didn't hit her too hard, they said she could still serve as a counselor. She mentioned the administration at our old school might even let her have her old job back if her replacement's willing to step down."

"Or he otherwise loses the job before she finds one," observed a voice from nearby.

Everyone turned to find Arata was approaching with a smile on her face. "Kohacchi!" Yuu greeted.

Kagari blinked. "Weren't you and Takuu...?"

Arata giggled lightly, taking the last empty seat. "Something like that," she admitted.

Nana rolled her eyes. "Right. Anyways, Ram- Sorry, San was looking for you."

"Oh, dammit," Arata muttered. "She didn't tell you what she wanted, did she?"

"N-No...?" Nana muttered.

Yuu jumped on the opening. "What'd you ask her for?" she inquired with a grin.

"That is absolutely none of your business," Arata insisted.

"Only dating a month and already getting him presents?" Yomi observed.

"H-his birthday's coming up," Arata defended. "I think being his  _friend_ for a year would merit that much, let alone-"

"Depends," Kagari teased. "Did San have to bring it here?"

"She wasn't holding anything," Nana observed.

"Big enough she can't bring it?" Kagari inquired, "or small enough she can hide it?"

Arata got to her feet. "You guys can't give me a break," she muttered.

"Hey," Mato defended, "love so quick after something like that? You're not getting your happy ending that easy!"

Her words caused Arata to pause. "You don't consider this happy?"

Mato realized her words came across differently than she meant them. "No, no, I'm sorry," she insisted. "That was... rude. But-"

She fell quiet when a finger flicked her in the forehead, and as she flinched she saw a smile on Arata's face. "Gotcha."

" _Kohacchi!_ "

Arata giggled and took off, leaving her friends laughing - and soon enough, Mato joined in.

 

 


	39. Christmas Omake: You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weren't expecting an update to this thing, were you!
> 
> Okay, so long story short, I was listening to Christmas songs with some friends and Grinch came on. We started making jokes about other possible insults you could make in the Grinch's direction, and they turned into proper verses I just couldn't pass up.
> 
> And having recently read Innocent Soul again, my BRSAO-  
> ...That is still such a stupid pun.  
> -my BRSAO fic seemed like the best idea to make use of them.
> 
> I wrote the majority of the fic in an effort to kind of gloss over the whole "The anime obviously takes place in Japan, but I'm Canadian and I think in Canadian terms and know North American things". This chapter is non-canon to the story and I am throwing my vagueness out the window and blatantly referencing North American things because that's how my friends and I came up with these verses.
> 
> (This is where my boyfriend always snarks about whether you can say something 'is canon' about fan works)
> 
> Quick recap of OSO/IRL names:  
> Stella: Arata  
> Ron: Takuu  
> Ram: San  
> Nana: Nana

"We're heeere!"

A smile rose on Mato's face as she turned to the entryway. Yomi and Kagari had invited the Beasts and the ex-goddesses to a small party in celebration of their first Christmas since they got out of the Otherworld; Arata and Takuu had been running slightly behind, and nobody was particularly surprised to discover they had arrived together.

"Hey," Nana greeted. "What took you two so long?"

"It's totally stupid," Takuu insisted, closing the door behind him. "You guys know about the Grinch?"

"Who doesn't know about the Grinch?" San argued. "The radio loves his song."

"That's kind of why we were slow," Arata admitted. "Nobody plays all the verses, and we ended up coming up with our own while we were looking for the full list."

Saya smirked. "Like what?"

"Get us a warm drink first," Takuu requested. "It's cold outside."

* * *

Everyone enjoyed a pleasant warm drink; then Arata and Takuu decided to share their stupid new verses.

" _You're a creeper, Mister Grinch,_ " Arata began.  
" _You are rude, and crude, and foul_  
_You're as courteous as a kitty_  
_And a mindful as an owl_  
_Mister Grinch_

" _You're an untrained dog at the door  
With a whine, and a bark, and a howl!"_

That got a quick chorus of giggles; Kagari, however, narrowed her gaze. "What's so un-mindful about an owl?"

"Have you ever tried to go to sleep with an owl outside your window?" Arata protested. "It's the worst."

" _You're a creature, Mister Grinch_ ," Takuu continued.  
" _And the creatures take offense_  
_I would take you as my hostage_  
_And then charge to keep you hence_  
_Mister Grinch-_ "

"Thence."

"What?" Takuu was briefly startled by Saya's interruption.

"If you're talking about something  **to** happen, rather than something happen **ing** , it's 'thence'," Saya explained.

"Is 'thence' even a word?" Yuu asked.

Saya nodded. "Yeah." Then; "Sorry, that was nitpicky. I didn't ruin your verse, did I?"

Takuu gave her a look, but just went back to the line.

" _I would take you as my hostage_  
_And then charge to keep you thence_  
_Mister Grinch_

"I mean, if I were to charge to **release** you  
By the time  **next** Christmas rolled around  
_I wouldn't have made two cents!"_

A heartier laughter from the others. "Nice one," San accused. "Yeah, 'pay me and I'll keep him out of your hair'. I'd pay your charge."

* * *

A few games were played between the friends; Kagari was noticeably sour as she found herself in last place during a game of Monopoly. Yomi, watching from the sidelines, got thoughtful as she watched the struggle; when Kagari came very nearly close to bankrupt, she spoke up. "Mind if I add to your verses?"

Arata chuckled. "You got an idea?" she asked.

"Let's hear it," Takuu agreed.

" _You freaked out once, Mister Grinch,_ " Yomi sang.  
" _And you never quite calmed down_  
_So your best attempts at smiling_  
_Still come off quite like a frown_  
_Mister Grinch_

"I mean, if you've let it stew that long  
It's entirely your own fault  
Hating Christmas,  **year after year**?  
_You oughta go and join the town..._ "

She ended the last line awkwardly, and the expressions of the others told her what she'd been fearing. "That was, um..." Mato started.

"Yeah, that sounded better in my head," Yomi admitted.

"You never really know what sounds good out loud until you say it out loud," Kagari observed. "Probably a good thing you did that between friends."

The rest of the game continued, with Kagari making enough of a recovery that bankruptcy wasn't a significant threat (although not enough to really close ground to the others). As they decided to call it a game, Yuu spoke up. "Ugh, now the tune's stuck in my head and I've got a verse of my own."

"We're not gonna mock you for it," Saya insisted. "Let's hear it."

The others all nodded, and Yuu sighed.

" _You disgust me, Mister Grinch,_ " she mused.  
" _You're a bully and a jerk_  
_You lie to all the little ones_  
_Around the rest you lurk_  
_Mis-ter Grinch_

"What, can't get your fun out of something kinder?  
_Put in a little goddamn work!_ "

There was a moment of quiet before San spoke up. "I like the idea behind it," she admitted, "but it's supposed to be a kid's story and you can't really clean that up and still make it fit the tune."

"Point."

* * *

Cards were the next event they decided on; a few hands in, a smirk rose in Kagari's face. "I see what you mean about the tune," she told Yuu.

"You got a verse?" Yomi asked.

Mato smiled. "Go for it."

" _You're a cheater, Mister Grinch,_ " Kagari sung.  
" _And your hand, regardless, sucks_  
_You could hide a stack of aces_  
_And still lose a stack of bucks_  
_Mister Grinch_

"If you were to rig a poker game so that you, specifically, would win  
And convince everyone at the table to bet everything they owned  
Your luck is so unreasonably bad that they would  **know** it would blow up in your face  
_So they wouldn't give two-"_

" **Hey!** " Saya interrupted.

Kagari flinched. "Sorry, that was in bad taste," she admitted. "Especially after that whole conversation about 'supposed to be a kid's story'."

A few decks later, Nana set her cards face-down with a groan. "Oh, no," she murmured. "Oh, no no no. Oh, that's horrible."

"What's horrible?" Arata asked.

"Kagari's gave me an idea, and I just came up with a totally stupid verse," Nana insisted.

"Come on, let's hear it," Takuu said.

"No," Nana denied, "it's horrible and nerdy."

"A year in an MMO and you think we're gonna judge you about something nerdy?" San accused.

Nana shook her head. "No, it's..." She sighed. "It's...  _tabletop RPG_  nerdy."

Quiet... and then Yuu shook her head. "Can't blame you there," she admitted. "I can't really get comfortable in VR after what happened in  _OtherSelf_."

"Yeah," Mato agreed, "nobody's gonna mock you. Let's hear it."

"Let's do this hand, first," Nana insisted, picking her cards back up.

She ended up winning the hand (which Saya suspected was her reason for wanting to do that first; anybody would hate themselves if they passed up a royal flush because they were distracted), and once the cards were returned to the deck she shared.

" _You're a PC, Mister Grinch_  
_And the N-P-Cs all run_  
 _'Cause one look at your Charisma_  
 _And they're all already done_  
 _Minster Grinch_ "

Nana took a very deep breath. Then;

"You're a nine hundred and ninety-nine nonillion  
nine hundred and ninety-nine octillion  
nine hundred and ninety-nine septillion  
nine hundred and ninety-nine sextillion  
nine hundred and ninety-nine quintillion  
nine hundred and ninety-nine quadrillion  
nine hundred and ninety-nine trillion  
nine hundred and ninety-nine billion  
nine hundred and ninety-nine million  
nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand  
nine hundred and ninety-nine sided die..."

She panted for a moment (to nobody's insult, as they were surprised she had been able to get that out in one breath); a quick mouthful of her drink, and she swallowed heavily before finishing:

" _That's only ever rolled a one!_ "

The entire table burst out laughing at that verse, putting a relieved smile on Nana's face. "Oh, that's awesome!" Arata praised.

"Totally," Mato agreed. "That gotta be the best one."

"And it fits," Takuu added. "The whole joke is that the end bits keep getting longer, that would be a perfect closer."

"You guys are great."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it just strikes me now: Acta and Nico went down in OSO. Between the surviving Beasts and the Otherworld testers, Takuu is the only guy. The other guys at the OSO survivor's school must be on his case about getting numbers.
> 
> Nana's verse closer refers to a d999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 (that's 33 nines).


End file.
